UNITED NATIONS, June 6: The United Nations Security Council tonight condemned India and Pakistan for their nuclear tests and said the two countries would not get the status of nuclear weapons state under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The Council did not threaten any sanctions but urged the two nations to have bilateral discussions to solve contentious issues, including Kashmir. In a resolution, the Council asked New Delhi and Islamabad to stop development of nuclear weapons and missiles capable of carrying them.Despite strong opposition by nuclear weapon states, the resolution welcomed the steps taken by India and Pakistan to fulfil their commitment under article six of NPT which calls for general and complete nuclear disarmament under effective international control.This formulation was included in the resolution at the insistence of Brazil.Negotiations on the formulation held up the resolution for several hours.During the debate, several members stressed the need for bilateraldiscussions between India and Pakistan to resolve their problems so that nuclear arms race could be avoided.Members also warned the nuclear weapons states the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain that they have a responsibility to renew efforts to curb nuclear weapons, including those in their own arsenals."The rest of us expect you to seriously take your responsibility of finally removing the threat of nuclear weapons which even with the end of the Second World War continues to hang over our heads," Kenyan Ambassador Njunguna Moses Mahugu said."Resolution coercive"India tonight described as "coercive and unhelpful" the resolution condemning New Delhi for nuclear tests and found it "grotesque" that an organ of the United Nations should seek to address India in this manner. In a strong-worded statement shortly after the Council adopted the resolution, the MEA made it clear that there was no place for third party involvement of any nature in the process for resolving alloutstanding issues between India and Pakistan. "We regret that the Council has acted in the way it has and produced a resolution which is coercive and unhelpful in respect of the objectives it seeks to address," the ministry said adding the problem of non-proliferation could not be arbitrarily confined to narrow geographical segment but could be addressed meaningfully only in a global framework.``This narrow focus and approach by the Council will heighten tensions, not lessen them,'' the statement warned.Unmindful of the rejection of nuclear weapon state status for India, the government said New Delhi was conscious of its responsibilities as a nuclear weapon state.Reiterating its commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, it said, ``our impeccable record speaks for itself and is better than many who have chosen to attempt to instruct us in the matter.''New Delhi said it had proposed a series of measures, including no first-use, moratorium on further testing and negotiations on Fissile MaterialCut-off Treaty (FMCT).The MEA statement said attempts to coerce member states to accede to international treaties was contrary to the norms of international law.``The NPT represents an unequal world order. The council's authority to decide on disarmament matters is questionable and not in conformity with the UN charter,'' it said. The government said the Security Council was strangely silent on many fundamental questions on its role under the UN Charter, raised by the permanent representative to the UN on June four.``We find it grotesque that an organ of the UN should seek to address India in this manner - a country that represents one-sixth of humanity and is world's largest democracy.''
