New Delhi: National Security Adviser MK Narayanan on
Sunday described the former DRDO scientist K Santhanam's claim on Pokhran-II nuclear
tests as “unfortunate” and asserted that India has thermonuclear capabilities.
The Atomic Energy Commission ( AEC ), which comprises a peer group of scientists,
had last week come out with the most authoritative statement on the efficacy of
the 1998 nuclear tests and no more clarification was required from the Government
on the matter, said Narayanan, during an interview to a television channel. The
NSA said that the AEC , an independent Commission and the highest body in such
matters, was asked to study the data of the 1998 nuclear tests once again in the
wake of the controversy over the efficacy of the hydrogen bomb following the statements
of former DRDO scientist K Santhanam. He informed that eminent scientists like
C N R Rao, P Rama Rao and M R Srinivasan were members of the AEC and the doyen
of the nuclear programme Raja Ramanna was part the apex nuclear body which went
into the test results in 1998. A very authoritative piece about the nature of
the tests written by AEC Chairman Anil Kakodkar and senior scientist S K Sikka
was being examined by physicists all over the world, said Narayanan while adding
that Mr. Santhanam was not privy to the information on which the test measurements
were taken.
