GENEVA: India came under increasing pressure Thursday not to block a historic global treaty to ban nuclear test explosions. It refused to budge. “We will not sign this treaty today, tomorrow or in three years’ time,” Anindhati Ghose, India’s disarmament ambassador, told negotiators at the 61nation Conference on Disarmament. India says only a commitment by the five declared nuclear powers — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States—to eliminate nuclear weapons within a defined schedule would persuade India to come aboard. Negotiators acknowledged that there is little chance India will sign the treaty. Their task is to persuade it not to ye to the accord—a right any conference member can exercise since rules call for decisions to be made by consensus. The conference has been meeting for more than two years to agree on a treaty to ban nuclear tests forever. Diplomats hoped to have the ban ready for a September signing at the United Nations.
With crucial Chinese support won Wednesday, India remains the sole holdout.
Along with Israel and Pakistan,’ India is thought to have nuclear capability. It has fought wars with two neighbors, China and Pakistan, in recent decades and is determined to keep all defense options open.
Many key nations feel the test ban treaty is pointless unless all nuclear powers—declared and undeclared—sign.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 14, 1996
