UN: INDIAN ENVOY DEFENDS INDIA'S REFUSAL TO SIGN NUCLEAR TEST BAN

(12 Sep 1996) English/Nat

The Indian envoy to the United Nations, Prakash Shah, has defended his country's refusal to sign a nuclear test ban treaty that nearly every other country in the world supports.

He was speaking after Tuesday's vote at the U-N in which the test ban was supported by 153 countries, and only opposed by India, Bhutan and Libya.

India's envoy to the UN says external threats have forced New Delhi to maintain the nuclear option.

It maintains that the treaty would leave it vulnerable to threats from China and from Pakistan, which Delhi thinks may have a covert nuclear and missile programme.

India's policy, as stated through its UN representative, Arundhati Ghose, is that its ultimate goal is total nuclear disarmament throughout the world.

SOUNDBITE:
Ambassador Ghose made it very clear yesterday after giving all our views that we will not sign the draft as has been approved yesterday and that position remains.
SUPER CAPTION: Indian envoy to the United Nations, Prakash Shah

Some in the Indian political establishment argue that the test-ban only serves to freeze existing stockpiles of nuclear weapons, while the real issue is overlooked.

SOUNDBITE:
And I reiterate that as far as India is concerned -- and we were happy to see that so many other countries felt the same way -- the real issue is nuclear disarmament. The real issue is how to move towards that. The real issue is that the world should be made safe from nuclear weapons and that security for everybody lies only with that.
SUPERCAPTION: Indian envoy to the United Nations, Prakash Shah

Even though President Clinton hailed the test ban vote as a "crucial step" toward ending the nuclear threat, it cannot become law before it is signed and ratified by India and the 43 other nations known to have nuclear reactors.

Pakistan, among the 44 nuclear powers, voted for the treaty but said it would not sign unless India did.

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