Thaindian News

New Delhi/Ramsar, Aug 29 (IBNS) Supporting former President APJ Abdul Kalam’s declaration that the 1998 Pokhran II tests were ‘successful’, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said there is no need for any controversy after Kalam’s statement.

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

K Santhanam, senior scientist and former Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) official, has dubbed the Pokhran II tests a fizzle, which means failing to yield the desired effect in nuclear test parlance.

However, Santhanam’s claims were disputed by the Indian defence ministry and none other than Kalam, who had played a pivotal organisational, technical and political role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974.

Kalam told a TV channel that the test was successful.

Pokharan-II refers to test explosions of five nuclear devices, three on 11 May and two on 13 May 1998, conducted by India at the Pokhran test range.

These nuclear tests resulted in a variety of sanctions against India by a number of major states. On 18 May 1974 India exploded its first nuclear device code named Smiling Buddha.

“The international seismological community has made measurements and come to conclusion that the yield from the thermonuclear device was below what was claimed by India,” Santhanam earlier said.

“I certainly believe in the option that if the opportunity comes we should conduct a test. That has been my stand very clearly for some years,” he said.

Earlier some foreign agencies had questioned the success of India’s 1998 nuclear tests.

The test in 1998 was said to have yielded 45 kilotons (KT) but was challenged by western experts who said it was not more than 20 KT.