Perhaps the single most disturbing fact that emerged out of the recent nuclear tests conducted by India (and followed by Pakistan), and the least remarked upon in public debate, was the utter moral insensitivity shown by those who supported the tests and orchestrated the temporary and wide-spread euphoria over it.

Nothing captured this more than the fact that all political parties (even those that came around quickly to opposing the tests), all the pro-bomb ‘strategic experts’ and the media-people felt it necessary to praise the scientific community for their ‘great achievement’.