Controversy over Pokhran-II needless: PM

Ramsar (Raj), Aug 29 (PTI) Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh Saturday said the recent controversy over the
1998 Pokhran tests was "needless" and that former president A
P J Abdul Kalam has clarified that the explosions were
successful.

"A wrong impression has been given by some scientists
which is needless. Kalam has clarified that the tests were
successful," Singh told reporters here.

He was asked about the bombshell dropped by a former
DRDO scientist K Santhanam that the Pokhran-II was not a full
success.

Santhanam, the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) representative for the tests, had claimed
that the thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb was of low yield and
not the one that would meet the country's strategic
objectives. He said India needed to conduct more atomic tests
and should not sign Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

But Kalam, who was the Director General of the DRDO
during Pokhran-II, maintained that from the data obtained by
seismic and radioactive measurements it had been established
by the project team that the "design yield of the
thermo-nuclear test has been obtained."

R Chidambaram, who was the Chairman of the Department
of Atomic Energy in 1998, also dubbed the suggestion as
"absurd". PTI