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US says sign NPT, India looks the other way

India is taking the moral high ground that it was one of the first to suggest universal elimination of nuclear weapons.

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India is unfazed by Washington’s call for all countries to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), taking the moral high ground that it was one of the first to suggest universal elimination of nuclear weapons.

US assistant secretary of state Rose Gottemoeller, speaking at the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 NPT Review Conference at the UN headquarters in New York, asked India, Israel on Wednesday, Pakistan and North Korea to come on board to halt the increase of nuclear weapons.  At the same time, she deflected criticism from several countries which argued that the India-US civil nuclear agreement reeked of  Washington’s double standards.

Gottemoeller defended the agreement saying, “India is coming closer to the non-proliferation regime, and that too is an important goal of the US foreign policy.”

“I would say that with regard to India’s agreement with the US on peaceful nuclear uses, America has been able to agree with India to undertake a number of activities that would bring it in closer cooperation with other countries in the general non-proliferation regime,” she said.

After the conference she spoke of India’s willingness to consider a fissile material cut-off and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treat (CTBT).

But India is in no mood to sign the CTBT. India has made it clear that it would not sign the CTBT unless the world moves “categorically towards nuclear disarmament in a credible time-frame”.

The US had signed the CTBT but never ratified it as President George W Bush’s administration was not keen on this. But for the new Democratic dispension of President Barack Obama,  non proliferation is a key goal and the White House will push for both the CTBT and the NPT.

Goettmoeller said non proliferation remained high on the agenda for the US. “Universal adherence to the NPT itself, including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea ... remains a fundamental objective of the United States,” Gottemoeller told the meeting.
India, Israel and Pakistan had never signed the NPT. North korea did , but later withdrew. While India refuses to sign on the dotted line because it finds the treaty discriminatory, Pakistan refuses to do so because of India.

Though it is known that Israel has nuclear weapons, it has never formally acknowledged the fact and the rest of the world are happy to be hoodwinked.

Indian officials, however, refused to react to the US assistant secretary’s comments, saying New Delhi’s views on the NPT were well known.

“We are willing to go ahead and sign the NPT provided all countries are ready to work together for the total elimination of weapons of mass destruction," an official said.
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