India seeks probe into N-links of Pakistan, North Korea

New York/ Bengaluru: India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday sought a probe into North Korea’s nuclear proliferation linkages and demanded that those responsible for it should be held accountable, in a veiled reference to Pakistan and the former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s state visit to North Korea in 1993, when she smuggled in critical data on uranium enrichment — a route to making a nuclear weapon — to help facilitate a missile deal with Pyongyang.

Ms Swaraj’s remarks came after North Korea fired another mid-range ballistic missile over Japan on Friday. It follows North Korea’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test on September 3 which was in direct defiance of United Nations sanctions and other international pressure.

“External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj deplored North Korea’s recent actions and stated that its proliferation linkages must be explored and those involved must be held accountable,” the ministry’s spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told reporters at a news conference at the United Nations in New York.

Ms Swaraj’s remarks came as she met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono on Friday on the sidelines of the ongoing United Nations General Assembly session here.

She is scheduled to address the UNGA on September 23, two days after Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will speak at the UN on September 21.

The Indian foreign ministry spokesman did not specify the country referred to by Ms Swaraj, but said the hints were enough to determine that.

“I think I am giving you enough material to try to figure out what we are talking about,” Mr Kumar said.

“We have very clearly mentioned that we not only deplore DPRK’s recent actions but also stated that its proliferation linkages must be explored and those involved be held accountable,” the spokesman said.  

North Korea had clandestinely received nuclear enrichment technology from Pakistan when A.Q. Khan was at the helm of Islamabad’s nuclear programme. Pakistan refused to hand over Mr Khan for questioning to US authorities in 2006, with the then President Gen. Pervez Musharraf granting him clemency which kept him out of the US’ clutches.

India’s veiled attack on Pakistan appears to be a part of its strategy to attack the neighbour before it tries to raise the Kashmir issue at the UNGA.

On Sunday, India’s permanent representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin took a jibe at Pakistan and said Islamabad’s decision to raise the Kashmir issue at the UN is like “Miyan ki daud masjid tak”, referring to a popular Urdu proverb meaning some people think within a limited focus and are unable to think beyond that.

A nuclear smuggling ring run by Mr Khan was suspected as the source of nuclear expertise for China’s other ally, North Korea.

In 1993, Pakistan was in desperate need of new missile technology that would counter India’s rising power. Ms Bhutto told journalist Shyam Bhatia years later that she was asked to carry “critical nuclear data” to hand over to Pyongyang as part of a barter deal.

“Before leaving Islamabad she shopped for an overcoat with the ‘deepest possible pockets’ into which she transferred CDs containing the scientific data about uranium enrichment that the North Koreans wanted,” Mr Bhatia wrote.

“She implied with a glint in her eye that she had acted as a two-way courier, bringing North Korea’s missile information on CDs back with her on the return journey.”

The CDs probably contained blueprints of the more than 100 centrifuge components as well as general assembly drawings. In 2002, with North Korean shopping for suspect parts in the nuclear market, the Bush administration accused Pyongyang of having a clandestine program to produce highly enriched uranium. Highly enriched uranium, a fuel for nuclear weapons, is produced by cascades of centrifuges that spin hot uranium gas.

That charge is reported to have sunk a Clinton-era deal that had frozen North Korea’s plutonium-based reactor.