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| India says no to CTBT, NPT | | | Agencies
United Nations, Sep 25: Sticking to its position, India on Friday ruled out signing the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in its present forms but made it clear that it was committed to ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
The Indian stand was reaffirmed in the wake of the UN Security Council resolution, spearheaded by President Barack Obama, that asked all non-NPT signatories to join the treaty as non-nuclear weapon states.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy on climate change Shyam Saran told reporters in Pittsburgh that India does not intend to be a party to the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state.
"We are committed to nuclear disarmament and at the same time we are also committed to unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests," he said on being asked whether India would sign the treaty in the wake of the UNSC asking non-NPT states to sign it.
In New York, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said India has taken a "principled" stand on CTBT and there is no scope for change in its position unless a number of other "developments" take place to address its concerns.
The high-level conference on disarmament, addressed by UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, asked India and eight other countries to ratify the agreement so that it comes into force.
"We have taken a principled stand and and so the question of India revisiting it depends on a number of other developments that would address our concerns," Krishna said emphatically.
Earlier, Moon said that "the CTBT is a fundamental building block for a world free of nuclear weapons".
"By establishing a global norm against testing, the CTBT has made a significant contribution to the world community's efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to promote nuclear disarmament," he added.
India, which views the NPT as flawed and discriminatory favouring nuclear powers, has made it known to the Security Council that it cannot accept the "externally prescribed norms or standards" on issues that were contrary to its national interests or infringe on its sovereignty.
Questioning the role of the UN in enforcing treaties like NPT, India also made it clear that it will not join the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state.
"Nuclear weapons are an integral part of India's national security and will remain so, pending non-discriminatory and global nuclear disarmament," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said in a letter to the Security Council on Thursday.
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