LONDON, May 28: The British government condemned Pakistan's nuclear tests and called on both Pakistan and India to unconditionally accept the NPT and CTBT. Britain's Foreign Secretary Robin Cook speaking from Luxembourg said, ``both Indian and Pakistan should back-off from the arms race they have become engaged in..'' He said that they could do more for regional security by signing up to the test ban and non-proliferation treaties.Downing Street has let it be known that they saw the tests coming, and that prime Minister Tony Blair spoke to Nawaz Sharief on Tuesday and urged him not to conduct the tests. A carefully worded statement, issued the British Foreign Office on behalf of Cook, said that the tests, "accentuate our concern about the increased risk of nuclear and missile proliferation in South Asia, and of escalating tension in that region. .." The statement also urged India and Pakistan, and crucially, "other states in the region to refrain from further test and the deployment of nuclear orballistic missiles." It added, "We urge Pakistan and India to engage in a dialogue which addresses the root causes of the tension between then, and try to build confidence rather than confrontation."Germany, while condemning Pakistan for carrying out the tests called on both India and Pakistan to avoid any escalation in tensions. German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said in a statement, "Peace and stability in southern Asia ..can only be achieved through dialogue, not through a nuclear arms race." France which has not yet responded to the tests, had, during the G-8 summit said that were Pakistan to conduct test, it would issue a statement identical to the one issued following India's tests. A senior NATO official said today that Pakistan faces harsh economic sanctions for defying international warnings and carrying out the tests. He said, the NATO foreign ministers, who were meeting in Luxembourg ".will be extremely preoccupied by these tests. Pakistan will expose itself to the prospect of veryrigorous sanctions which its economy can ill afford."Haris Gazdar, a Pakistani economist at the London School of Economics said that the Pakistani government had "taken a big gamble . this is possibly the toughest decision that Nawaz Sharief has ever taken ." Gazdar said that the tests would most certainly have "dire economic consequences" for the country. Sanctions, he said, were likely only to affect future bi-lateral and multilateral aid negotiations. But he added , "it was just touch and go, when Pakistan concluded the deal with the IMF earlier this year . now it will be more touch than go .." Gazdar also said, that the Pakistan government could not take for granted continued popular support for the tests once the consequences of the decision began to make their impact.Reaction in Britain's Paskistani community was largely positive, although most people stressed that Pakistan's tests were a logical outcome of India's provocation. Asked whether Pakistan would not have gained more in respect andassistance from the interational community by exercising restraint, a spokesperson for an organisation of British Pakistanis said, "the trouble is its okay for the international community to say so .. but is the international community able to deliver on it ?" Several callers to BBC's Radio 5 Live channel stressed that both India and Pakistan would be better off concentrating on improving their economies rather than on a nuclear programme. Tariq Mir speaking on behalf of the MQM, from its base in London, said that while the party has always maintained a "non-nuclear position" it was happy that since India had carried out tests, Pakistan has reciprocated to restore the balance of power in the region."
