Santhanam hits out at NSA; wants independent inquiry in N-test

New Delhi, Sep 21 (PTI) Former DRDO scientist K Santhanam
Monday demanded setting up of an independent expert panel to
look into the data of Pokhran-II and hit out at India's
National Security Adviser M K Narayanan for questioning his
knowledge about the 1998 nuclear tests.

Santhanam, who had raised doubts over the success of the
thermonuclear test, said Narayanan had given "misleading"
statement over 1998 explosions as he was not NSA at that time.

Taking objection to Narayanan's claim that he did not
have access to the data generated by the nuclear tests,
Santhanam said "the NSA is barking up the wrong tree".

He rejected Naryanan's contention that the review of the
thermonuclear test by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
should set at rest all doubts on the efficacy of the nuclear
explosion.

Santhanam, who was the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) co-ordinator for the 1998 nuclear tests,
said there was a "strong and clear" need to form a group of
stalwarts and give them access to all the relevant data.

"Only then will the credibility (about the assessment of
the tests) be increased... AEC and BARC cannot be judge and
jury, more so when the issue relates to their claims of the
thermonuclear yield," he said at an interaction at the Indian
Women Press Corps here. MORE PTI SKU
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