A `GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP' is being launched by the Group of Eight (G-8) nations to prevent the purveyors of terror from seizing or acquiring weapons of mass destruction. The broad band of such an elitist `global partnership' defines the prospective fight against almost all conceivable aspects of nuclear blackmail by the operational terrorist groups and also their state-sponsors, if any. The G-8 caucus links an economically troubled Russia with the world's seven rich countries. From the club's standpoint of power politics, it is not enough if the intended anti-terror injunction were to cover just the acquisition of mass-destructive weapons, which themselves may range from nuclear devices and radioactive "dirty bombs" at one level to chemical ingredients or biological agents at another. On a related political plane, the truly ambitious anti-terror campaign will be designed to nullify any attempt by non-state actors and by their alleged state-patrons to acquire missiles that could be used to deliver such warheads. Overall, what is sought to be curbed is the perceived terrorist overdrive in many directions. Significantly, the G-8 leaders have spelt out their determination to deny the networks of terror and their suspected state-promoters any access to the knowhow as also the materials needed to make and use mass-destructive weapons.

An initiative of such intricate proportions was successfully piloted by the United States at the G-8 summit in Canada last week. As the elite club includes all but China among the original and exclusive coterie of five military powers with nuclear arsenals, the G-8's new agenda of `non-proliferation' marks a forward shift in strategic politics across the world. The U.S.-guided `partnership' seems to be of `global' reach on two counts that were outlined at the summit. To begin with, the G-8 countries will coordinate efforts among themselves so as to address the issue of nuclear non-proliferation anywhere in the world with the specific purpose of countering terrorism. Gradually, however, the eight major powers intend to co-opt other key countries, perhaps China as also India, to give a greater thrust to the movement against nuclear terrorism. Not surprisingly, in this context, the G-8 leaders, inclusive of those from the U.S. and the U.K. as also France and Germany besides Japan, have specifically "agreed that Pakistan must put a permanent stop to terrorist activity originating from (the) territory under its control". Given that the terrorist menace which emanates from Pakistani territory is driven by an anti-India agenda, the G-8 has called upon both Islamabad and New Delhi to "commit (themselves) to a sustained dialogue on the underlying issues that divide them".

With the U.S. according primacy to the anti-terror issue in the face of several other critical concerns, the "global partnership" has emerged against a backdrop of proactive diplomacy by Washington itself. A $20-billion fund is sought to be raised to help identifiable countries protect their nuclear arsenals or materials and their technical knowhow about various forms of mass-destructive weapons from predatory raids, including any pilferage, by the various terrorist groups or their presumptive state-sponsors. The U.S. itself will contribute $10 billions over a 10-year period, and Russia will be the first beneficiary of this fund. In the context of G-8 summitry, Washington has sought to cast the anti-terror net wide by adding the Babbar Khalsa and the International Sikh Youth Federation to its list of "specially designated global terrorist entities". While the U.S. has been able to evolve a G-8 consensus on anti-terror issues and economic assistance to an impoverished Africa, Washington's latest bid to dictate a `peace' agenda with reference to the Palestinians has not had much resonance within the G-8 forum.