India a responsible nuclear state, believes in 'no first use': Akbar
Davos: Union minister M J Akbar today asserted that India is a responsible nuclear state and believes in 'no first use' of such weapons, even as he questioned why no action is being taken at the global level against proliferation.
Speaking at a session on nuclear threats to international security here at the World Economic Forum (WEF), he said many countries see nuclear weapons as the ultimate deterrence and see "missiles as a message".
The minister of state for external affairs said just a few days ago India joined the Australia Group and is party to other such pacts.
"The world recognises that India is a very responsible nuclear state. Also, we are like that not because someone asked us to do so, but because we want to be like that," Akbar said.
He said India's approach is clear -- it wants a nuclear regime that is non discriminatory.
"We have got support from so many countries on our approach and we hope that the world will work together on reducing if not eliminating the nuclear threats," he said while adding that he is hopeful as everyone takes the threat of destruction seriously.
Asked about both India and Pakistan having nuclear weapons, he said, "We can only speak from our position. I can't speak on behalf of another country and we have these weapons as form of a deterrence and we believe in no first use."
"We would want to get an agreement at global level on 'no first use'. If ideals can't be achieved at least we can work towards good. It's easy to hear the noise but a little less easy to hear the silence," he said.
Akbar said India is very proud that its objective is peace. We want peace but peace not necessarily comes from pacifism, he added.
Akbar said people have gotten away with proliferation and strong actions are needed against that.
Speaking in the same session, Beatrice Fihn of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons said the only solution is to abolish and eliminate nuclear weapons and it makes no sense for responsible countries to have such weapons that always present a major risk.
She said these weapons create, rather than resolve, crises.
Akbar, however, said demands of security cannot be simply wished away and wondered why is it that no country is taking unilateral decision against nuclear weapons.
"We are in Europe which has nuclear states and why don't they lead the way? Can they seek public opinion on disarmament? At our level, we work very strongly through multilateral framework which is the only way forward.
"We urge other nations to take steps and we hope this diligence with which we work towards a safer world will yield result," he said.
Akbar asserted that we need to question why no steps are being taken against proliferation.
The panel discussed the increasing number of nuclear states and threat of "first use" of nuclear weapons as dual global risks on the rise.
The panel members discussed what political, diplomatic and military options can mitigate or manage such existential threats.
They also sought to understand why nuclear threats are back on the table.
Other areas of discussion included re-evaluating the risk/reward balance in nuclear deterrence and how to keep the human factor in focus.
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Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
