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Journalism of Courage
Ahead of next years review conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),US President Barack Obama on Thursday successfully piloted a resolution in the UN Security Council,calling upon all countries outside the treaty,like India,to join as non-nuclear weapons states.
The resolution,adopted unanimously at a rare summit meeting of the Security Council,evoked a sharp reaction from New Delhi,which,in a strongly-worded letter to the president of Security Council,said India would not comply with non-proliferation obligations to which it has not provided its sovereign consent. Additionally,it noted that India was a nuclear weapon state and that there was no question of it joining the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state.
India cannot accept externally prescribed norms prescribed norms or standards on matters within the jurisdiction of its Parliament or which are not consistent with Indias constitutional provisions and procedures,or are contrary to Indias national interests or infringe on its sovereignty, said the letter from Hardeep Singh Puri,Indias permanent representative at the UN.
The Security Council resolution also called upon all states that are not parties to the NPT to adhere to the treatys terms pending their accession to the Treaty.
The resolution also offered support for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Fissile Materials Cut-off treaty (FMCT) and called upon all countries to refrain from conducting a nuclear test explosion and to sign and ratify the CTBT.
Observers in India said it was clear that Obama,instead of making a case for universal disarmament as enunciated by India,was choosing to focus solely on non-proliferation and earlier instruments like CTBT and FMCT. Arundhati Ghose,Indias former permanent representative to the United Nations,said this stance could push back India-US relations. I feel such a position would result in India-US relationship to be pushed back to the era of Bill Clintons first term. The Bush Administration had worked a lot to remove the nuclear thorn from India-US relations. I think the stand taken by Obama will have a serious impact on the relations between the two countries, she said.
Officially,India reiterated its commitment to unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing but said it would not give up its nuclear weapons till the rest of the world did so. We cannot accept any obligations arising from treaties that India has not signed or ratified. The position is consistent with the fundamental principles of international law and the Law of Treaties. India cannot accept calls for universalisation of the NPT, the letter to the Security Council president said. Nuclear weapons are an integral part of India s national security and will remain so,pending non-discriminatory and global nuclear disarmament.
With the resolution,the US and other states have clearly opted to revive the effort started by Clinton a decade back,aimed at universalisation of NPT,bringing CTBT in force and negotiating a FMCT. During the discussions on the civil nuclear agreement with the US,India had agreed to play a positive role in negotiating a fully-verifiable,non-discriminatory FMCT.
