Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee yesterday ruled out the possibility of India signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in their present form.
He stressed that the Indian nuclear tests were not directed against any country and claimed the tests by both the countries had not escalated tension in the region.
India conducted nuclear tests, and so did Pakistan, he said, pointing out that China and France had also did it in the past. "When others conduct the tests no one talks about tension; but when we conduct the same everyone talks of tension in the region," he said.
Vajpayee's suo moto statement in the Rajya Sabha during `Question Hour' assumes significance in the context of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's allegation on Wednesday that the Pokhran tests were targeted at Beijing and Islamabad. The Indian tests were a message to those who were stockpiling nuclear arms while preaching peace and nuclear non-proliferation to the rest of the world, Vajpayee said. "Who can preach peace to India, he asked."
The Prime Minister welcomed any initiative on global disarmament by the five nuclear powers but held that such an initiative should not be focussed only on the South Asian region. The nuclear issue was not just limited to India and Pakistan, he pointed out and suggested that all other countries should sit together and chalk out a strategy for reducing global stockpile of arms. India would not sign the CTBT as it was discriminatory but was prepared to discuss it, he said, There had been unwarranted pressure on India and Pakistan to sign the treaty ever since their nuclear tests, he added.
Vajpayee said the nuclear issue was not just limited to India and Pakistan but concerned all countries. He stressed the need for a strategy to reduce global stockpile of arms.
He said he had told the same things to the visiting Iranian foreign minister, Syed Kamal Kharrazi on Wednesday.
On Indo-Pak relations, Vajpayee said India was prepared to discuss all issues, including Kashmir, with Pakistan and was awaiting a response from Islamabad on New Delhi's initiatives at the Dhaka summit. He clarified that all issues with Pakistan would be discussed bilaterally and ruled out mediation by a third party. India and Pakistan have to co-exist in spite of their bilateral problems, he added. Earlier, minister of state for external affairs Vasundhara Raje Scindia said that India was aware of China's assistance in Pakistan's clandestine nuclear weapons programme.
Meanwhile, despite New Delhi's objection, the US has said the Kashmir issue should be put on the `international agenda' to ease the tensions between India and Pakistan."I know that India would object and does object to any internationalisation of that issue. Frankly, I think that's something that has to be on the agenda _ for a variety of countries to sit down and talk about ways in which we can reduce tensions in that area," defence secretary William Cohen said on Wednesday.
Secretary of state Madeleine Albright said the long-term US goal is to "reexamine" the underlying political problems between India and Pakistan, "including Kashmir" and indicated that many more countries were offering to play a mediatory role.
When a correspondent said that Japan has offered to mediate, Albright replied: "I think you're probably going to hear a number of countries that are volunteering for this role. The question is when is it appropriate to have such a role. What country or group of countries are the most capable of delivering on such a role?" "I think some of it does not come from self-nomination," she said. Stating that Washington has always urged for Indo-Pak dialogue on the issue, Albright said, "I don't want to really presage too much about what really could be the next steps on this, but clearly they do have to deal with each other on it.
And it is going to be one of the subjects ... In Geneva."
Undersecretary of state for economic affairs Stuart Eizenstat advocated promoting resumption of talks between New Delhi and Islamabad and opposed any "unilateral action to change the status of Kashmir".
Assistant secretary of state for South Asia Karl Inderfurth urged the two countries to refrain from taking provocative actions in and around Kashmir.
Asserting that China "has actually had a constructive role to play" with respect to Kashmir, he hoped it would continue to play a similar role in this regard.
China had assisted in setting up unsafe research reactor and plutonium reprocessing facility, besides providing ring magnets, heavy water and diagnostic equipment to Pakistan, she said.
She admitted that India's national security was threatened by the continuing supply of sophisticated nuclear weapons technology through clandestine means to Pakistan. However, she assured the House that India would continue to take all necessary steps to effectively safeguard national security.
The government was closely monitoring all developments including those relating to Islamabad's missile programme, she said. India's security concerns due to Pakistan's missile programme and active Sino-Pak cooperation in the area of missiles and related technologies have been conveyed to various countries including the US, she added.
