Big-5 to discuss Indo-Pak face-off

Pakistan, which escaped much of the international opprobrium in following the tests by India — which bore the brunt of the odium — was again lucky that its second round of test too escaped flak thanks to the flurry of diplomatic activity.

Led by the United States, the international community is rapidly shifting focus to diplomacy and incentives in place of censure and sanctions. US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is convening a meeting of foreignministers of the Security Council to discuss what Washington sees purely –and erroneously, according to Indian diplomats — as an India-Pakistan face-off. This could grow into a larger group at a later date, a virtual international conference on India and Pakistan, administration officials said. The agenda for the conference? To stop further tests or escalation in the region; to "reaffirm the world’s commitment" to the maintenance of the global non-proliferation regime; to get India and Pakistan to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and support fissile material cut off; and finally to de-escalate tension by promoting dialogue on the current security situation and on the conflict in Kashmir "so that the underlying dispute that has led to nuclear testing… can be addressed."

Meanwhile at the UN Security Council, China finally allowed passage of a statement strongly deploring Pakistan’s tests after holding up such a resolution for 24 hours to dilute the censure of its ally. China had demanded strongercondemnation of India’s tests last fortnight, amid opposition from France and Russia, which have displayed a better understanding of India’s sensitivities.

The Security Council statement issued on Friday accused both India and Pakistan of being in violation of a de facto moratorium on nuclear testing that has been observed the world over for more than two years, when a majority of nations agreed to the CTBT. Incidentally, China and France repeatedly violated a similar moratorium before they signed the test ban treaty after finishing tests they deemed necessary.

Although Russia and France seem ready to consider giving India and Pakistan a de facto nuclear status, probably within the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the United States is firmly against it. Washington is also against reopening or allowing negotiations on the test ban treaty (CTBT) and wants India to sign it unconditionally. India is not only seeking to discuss and express its reservations about certain clauses of the test bantreaty which makes it inequitious, but it is also seeking a nuclear status independent of Pakistan’s clamouring. Indian officials say the US and other nations should recognise that New Delhi’s nuclear policy is based on a larger and broader strategic thinking and should not be measured in terms of Pakistan, whose whole program is India-centric. Because of its larger security concerns, New Delhi resents matters being seen in the India-Pakistan matrix, officials said.

But, while Albright and her mandarins were drumming up support for such a conference and warning Pakistan against more tests and nuclear weaponisation of missiles (a "strongly worded" demarche was sent on Thursday), Islamabad poked a finger in the American eye with a second string of test. Pakistan’s foreign minister also cocked a snook at Washington by explicitly describing nuclearisation of Ghauri missiles and what it could do to Indian cities.

Such corrosive rhetoric caused barely a ripple in the State Department which Indian diplomats sayhas suddenly discovered a fount of sympathy for Islamabad. Shortly before Pakistan’s second test, Albright’s spokesman James Rubin was again speaking about the "enormous political pressure that prime minister Nawaz Sharif was under."

Britain calls G-8 meet

Cook said the meeting would consider how best to bring both India and Pakistan within the global non-proliferation regime and "encourage them to address the roots of the tension between them."