Bangladesh will be the nuclear country?

[Zabaniyah]

- Ms. Bhardwaj, in your article «Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh look at nuclear option» you touched problem by nuclear selection. But where a guarantee that Bangladesh, like its immediate neighbors India and Pakistan do not want to have nuclear weapons?


- There is definitely no guarantee that Bangladesh like its neighbour, India, may not want to have nuclear weapons.

This is despite the fact that Bangladesh is a signatory to the Non Proliferation (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), important milestones towards nuclear disarmament and non proliferation, and is under the safeguard measures of the IAEA and additional protocols.

As a member of the NPT, Bangladesh may be allowed to carry out nuclear activities for civilian purposes.

It is indeed a fact that the impoverished country faces acute power shortage and this may be the reason for it to work towards 600-1000MW nuclear power plant at Roopur, Pabna by 2015.

For the civil nuclear power plant Bangladesh has also gained approvals from IAEA, the nuclear watchdog, and several countries like Russia, China, South Korea and France have been solicited for help in construction and financing of the plant.

- Unlike India and Pakistan, Bangladesh is a signatory to the Non proliferation Treaty (NPT) and feels that it has every right to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. But is there a guarantee, that having mastered nuclear technology, Bangladesh does not want to go further. And will want to have nuclear weapons, as North Korea. Not talking about Myanmar, where the military junta ruling.


- As I mentioned already Bangladesh seeks nuclear power plants to boost up its power capacity in face of the rising demand.

There is enough political and public will to support this power addition program in Bangladesh.

However it remains a fact that as other countries like North Korea and Iran have reportedly flouted NPT rules in the past, Bangladesh too may be prompted in the future to divert its nuclear know how to stockpile nuclear weapons.

It is important to note that Bangladesh has serious border disputes with Myanmar.

Myanmar is also under the scanner for wanting to acquire nuclear know how (military or civilian) indigenously or with the help of North Korea or even China.

Then India, another neighbour of Bangladesh, with which the country has not had the best of relations also possesses military nuclear technology.

Surrounded by two such nations may be a reason for Bangladesh also to have military nuclear ambitions.

- If Bangladesh wants to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, this has led many in the West to wonder why it wants to have.

- There have been many instances in the past when countries that have been signatories to the NPT and CTBT have used their civilian nuclear technology and fuel for reprocessing it into material for nuclear weapons.

The situation in South Asia and South East Asia has become very tricky.

There have also been many instances where it has come to light that ‘jehadi elements’ have had bases in Bangladesh.

The country also has a past of not powerful governments and political strife from time to time.

Moreover, China has also been showing interest in Bangladesh and in the Indian Ocean to establish its influence and have its operative bases.

In the coming future the alliance between China and Bangladesh may bring them together in military nuclear matters.

But to assume that nuclear know how will always remain for peaceful purposes is expecting too much.

Thus there may be a valid reason for the West to be concerned on such lines that things may go out of hand.

- There is information that Myanmar is building a secret nuclear reactor and plutonium extraction facilities with North Korean help, with the aim of acquiring its first nuclear bomb in five years. If the report is correct, then Bangladesh will have two immediate neighbours which have nuclear weapons. The scenario does not seem comfortable for people of Bangladesh?


- Certainly Myanmar with its intended nuclear weapons stockpile will be a real threat for the people pf Bangladesh.

Unlike Iran, Myanmar has never faced similar heat from USA and its efforts to have such weapons means Bangladesh could follow suit.

- And a recent report from Washington-based Radio Free Asia and Myanmar exile media said senior Myanmar military officers made a secret visit late last year to North Korea, where an agreement was concluded for greatly expanding cooperation to modernize Myanmar's military, including the construction of underground installations.
Thus we can speak about North Korean nuclear and missile exports?


- There have been multiple reports on a possible military relationship between North Korea and Myanmar in nuclear matters.

Investigations have been on to look into possible nuclear transfers to other non nuclear states and the nuclear test that Pyongyang carried out.

It could be Myanmar wants to acquire conventional weapons or missile parts or technology in lieu of its uranium ore and not necessarily nuclear armed missiles from North Korea.

Though these are all possibilities and we cannot conclusively issue any statement, yet there remains every cause for concern.

The weak North Korea has been trying hard to generate revenue from weapons export and the nuclear test that it conducted could have been a way of advertising to the rogue states of its nuclear capability.

- This nuclear weapon move jeopardises the security and wellbeing of immediate neighbours Myanmar?


- A military junta and devoid of any democratic political set up in Myanmar has always been a concern despite various democracies engaging with the country at various levels.

There have been serious border disputes between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

It is a fact that Bangladesh has had a history of a disturbed polity and presence of hardliners who have held political sway.

In this context the future is uncertain given the friction between Myanmar and Bangladesh there may be a chance that the nuclear capacities may be used militarily.

- If Bangladesh and Myanmar will have nuclear weapons, then Japan did not will follow their example?

- In Asia there are already two nuclear powers, China and India.

Myanmar is also reportedly following nuclear ambitions.

Bangladesh is moving towards building a civil nuclear power plant.

If proliferation takes place in the nuclear free zone of South East Asia then it is doubtful how Japan could be assured of a fool proof security without it being in possession of any nuclear weapons.

It may be natural progression to see Japan follow other nuclear states in such a situation.


- Japan can not abandon nuclear weapons, when her have India, Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh?


- As I mentioned above Japan with its nuclear energy infrastructure has the capacity to come up with its nuclear weapons at any time.

There are no doubts in referring it as a de facto nuclear state.

Though it has desisted from doing so till now, the policy of non-weaponisation of its nuclear technology can be revised in response to perceived threats especially from rogue states like North Korea.


- And then this chain reaction will extend to the Thailand or Malaysia. Such developments will have serious repercussions across Asia, in particular in South East Asia?


- The geo political chess board of South East Asia is very unstable right now.

Many countries in the South East and South East Asian regions are not structured democratically and continue to remain fissiparous and unstable politically.

Bangladesh has a weak polity, Myanmar remains ruled by the military junta, Thailand has had mixed rule.

These can be breeding grounds of rogue states and in such an eventuality resources could be channelized into misuses.

There needs to be a serious rethink at the international level to get all countries to genuinely bind them towards a real disarmament in all ways possible.

The international community has to come up with rigid, real, uniform and acceptable criteria for safe atomic uses and non-weaponisation of technology to make our globe safe and liveable.

Source: Bangladesh will be the nuclear country? -

 

[Zabaniyah]

Old, but an interesting article I found:

Surrounded by nuclear weapon states

IT started with India, our nearest neighbour, which tested its first nuclear weapon on May 18, 1974, described by the Indian government as a "peaceful nuclear explosion." After a pause of twenty-four years, India carried out five more nuclear tests, between May 11 and May 13, 1998. One of the five explosions is believed to have used a thermonuclear device.

The Indian nuclear explosion of 1974 prompted Pakistan, its arch-rival and neighbour, to enter the race for acquiring nuclear weapons. On May 28, 1998 Pakistan conducted five nuclear tests in response to the same number by India more than a fortnight earlier.

North Korea is believed to have obtained nuclear secrets from Pakistan in exchange for its missile technology. The secret pact served a mutually beneficial two-way purpose. Pakistan gained the missile technology and North Korea the nuclear technology. On October 9, 2006 it announced that it had conducted a nuclear test followed by a second one on May 25, 2009.

Israel never claimed to have tested any nuclear device though it is widely believed that it has an arsenal of a good number of nuclear weapons. This enables it to bully its weak neighbours like Lebanon and Palestine every now and then.

Now there is more disturbing news. According a human rights and democracy group based in Norway, Myanmar's military dictatorship is working on nuclear weapons with assistance from North Korea. So the chain reaction of nuclear proliferation has set in! Myanmar lies between two nuclear powers, India and China and is our second nearest neighbour.

Myanmar's involvement in nuclear weapons was revealed in a report by Robert Kelley, a former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) based in Vienna, who analysed evidence supplied by Sai Thein Win, a former major and defense engineer of Myanmar.

The news prompted Senator Jim Webb, a democrat from Virginia, to postpone his trip to Myanmar, and the United States raised concerns about "growing military ties" between North Korea and Myanmar. The military junta in Myanmar promptly denied it was developing nuclear weapons, decrying such allegations as "groundless and politically motivated." The reaction of the Bangladesh government to the reported news of Myanmar's nuclear weapons program is not clear or, at least, has not been made public.

As a next-door neighbour, are we not concerned about this development? Can we remain indifferent to being surrounded by nuclear weapon states not only in the region but also all along our borders? What is our defense if, God forbids, we have a border conflict with anyone of them? Did we not confront conventional navy ships from neighbouring countries in our territorial waters in the past for one reason or another? How shall we confront in the future if such ships are equipped with nuclear warheads?

No, I am not suggesting that we too should do what others in the region are doing, but we must have an effective defense system to protect our territory and our sovereignty.

It may be mentioned here that, like Israel, neither India nor Pakistan is a signatory to either the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). North Korea withdrew after signing NPT and never signed CTBT. Myanmar is a signatory to both NPT and CTBT.

Bangladesh, from its birth, has been a proponent of peace in the region. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation, declared that Bangladesh would be the Switzerland of the East. Accordingly, Bangladesh signed all international protocols like NPT and CTBT without any reservation.

Bangladesh refrained from any nuclear weapon program even though it had the necessary manpower in early 1970's to undertake such a program. Now the question is, who will come to protect us if any of our neighbours flexes its "nuclear muscles" to cow us down in case there is a conflict?

Is there any provision in NPT or CTBT that provides security to the signatories by the five nuclear weapon states if they are attacked by a non-signatory nuclear weapon state? No, I have not seen any. The instruments only have provisions for sanctions, which proved to be ineffective in cases of India, Pakistan and North Korea. Likewise, the sanctions are likely to be ineffective in cases of Iran and Myanmar too, if they really pursue nuclear weapon programs.

Under such circumstances, time has come to review and, if necessary, amend the provisions of NPT and CTBT to include a collective guarantee of "nuclear security" by the five major nuclear weapon states -- US, Russia, China, France and UK -- to any signatory non-weapon state in case its sovereignty and integrity are threatened by any non-signatory nuclear weapon state.

If this is not done now, mere provisions of sanctions will not stop nuclear proliferation. The chain reaction of proliferation that started from Pakistan will continue to spread unabated to other aspiring countries.

Pierre Trudeau, former prime minister of Canada, once said about its next-door neighbour US: "Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt." No peace loving country, like Bangladesh, will feel comfortable in the company of so many nuclear weapon states, no matter how friendly they may appear today.

Dr. Abdul Matin is a former Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission.

Source: Surrounded by nuclear weapon states

Please, don't troll

 

[Kaniska]

......Post edited as i donot want to spoil the mood....

 

[SHAMK9]

Old, but an interesting article I found:



Source: Surrounded by nuclear weapon states

Please, don't troll

well geographically, BD is surrounded by only one nuclear state which is india

 

[A.Rafay]

U forgot to include this pic also:

Since i don't think the article will be more interesting than this Pic

she is really hot man.....

he warned about trolling but Indians did completely opposite!! this proves 90% Indians are idiots.

 

[Hammer-fist]

This time a Hindutva troll started derailing the topic at post #3.

This time it was with some irrelevant picture of a female.

Re topic: I would not be in favour of a nuclear Bangladesh (weapons wise).

However if things change....

 

[Sugarcane]

U forgot to include this pic also:

Since i don't think the article will be more interesting than this Pic

Sorry OP but she is interesting....

@Topic - I don't know how BD will justify it because India is not your enemy

 

[Emmie]

U forgot to include this pic also:

Since i don't think the article will be more interesting than this Pic

Mega ton indeed.. Gorgeous looking girl, who's she?

 

[A.Rafay]

I support nuclear Bangladesh, they should require the tech and make weapons and Indian bulliness in the region will be decreased and threat to their land from India will be stopped.

 

[Kaniska]

he warned about trolling but Indians did completely opposite!! this proves 90% Indians are idiots.

I edited my post...but you pretend as if Non Indian are angel here....if i was trolling in the post..why are you replying to it...Just ignore troll post...

 

[Sugarcane]

Re topic: I would not be in favour of a nuclear Bangladesh (weapons wise).

However if things change....

It needs decades of research + delivery system

 

[SHAMK9]

It needs decades of research + delivery system

or just slip a few from north korea

 

[A.Rafay]

I edited my post...but you pretend as if Non Indian are angel here....if i was trolling in the post..why are you replying to it...Just ignore troll post...

didn't he warned not to troll???? then why do you even do such stuff at beginning of thread it annoys people here who are serious.

 

[Gyp 111]

If you want to trolling then go to indian defence...trolling can't be ignored

I edited my post...but you pretend as if Non Indian are angel here....if i was trolling in the post..why are you replying to it...Just ignore troll post...

 

[Hammer-fist]

It needs decades of research + delivery system

That can be dealt with.

The key question is national will.

I would be regarded as very nationalistic, but even I am against it.

If a poverty-stricken non-entity like N. Korea can make it, so can we.