Us Hopes To Cap Nuclear Potential Of India, Pak

The United States hopes to cap the nuclear weapon potential of India, Pakistan and other non-signatories of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) through the proposed fissile materials cutoff treaty (FMCT).

It is our best hope of capping the nuclear weapon potential of countries outside the NPT, including India and Pakistan, US arms control and disarmament agency director John Holum said on Tuesday at a briefing for the congressional research service negotiating a possible FMCT.

President Bill Clinton is pushing for the approval of an FMCT as a priority at the disarmament conference in Geneva.

Assiduous and creative efforts to control arms are required for the future, Holum said, adding, the world still bristles with cold war overarmaments and the US must make arms control a central element in the kind of unified foreign policy that befits a great power in a perilous world. Holum warned that more than 40 countries now had the technical and material ability to develop nuclear weapons if they decided to do so.

More than 15 nations have at least short-range ballistic missiles, and many of these are pursuing weapons of mass destruction, he said, adding that around 20 countries, many hostile to us, had chemical weapon programmes.

He said another 15 had the capability and motivation to develop such weapons.