M A I N   N E W S

Sign NPT, UNSC tells states

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives at the Frankfurt Airport, on the way to Pittsburg, to attend the G-20 Summit. — PTI

United Nations, September 24
The UN Security Council today unanimously adopted a resolution asking all non-NPT states to join the treaty at a summit chaired by President Barack Obama.

The 15-member council, while urging “other states” outside the NPT to join the controversial treaty as “non-nuclear states” to help rid the world of atom bombs, also urged all countries to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and refrain from conducting atomic tests. India has not signed the CTBT yet.

The “other states”, which were not named in the resolution, were a clear reference to Pakistan and India, which have not signed the NPT, but are known to have atomic arsenals, and Israel, which neither confirms nor denies having nuclear arms but is believed to have a sizeable stockpile of warheads.

The resolution also calls for talks on drafting a treaty to ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.

The mandate of the council came when it approved the resolution 1887 that calls on countries that have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) “to comply fully with all their obligations”. Obama said the resolution will strengthen the NPT. “We have made it clear that the Security Council has the authority and the responsibility to respond to violations of the treaty,” he said.

“Nations with nuclear weapons have the responsibility to move towards disarmament and those without them have the responsibility to forsake them,” Obama said. — PTI

Will not: India

New Delhi, September 24
India has refused to abide by the UN Security Council resolution asking all non-NPT nations to sign the pact, saying it cannot accept the “externally prescribed norms or standards” on issues that are contrary to its national interests or infringe on its sovereignty. India said it could not join the NPT as a non-weapon country even as it reiterated its commitment to no testing and no-first-use besides non-discriminatory universal non-proliferation.

In a letter to UN Security Council President Susan E Rice, India’s permanent representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri said, “India cannot accept calls for universalisation of the NPT.”

Citing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement in Parliament on July 29, Puri said, “There is no question of India joining the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state. Nuclear weapons are an integral part of India’s national security and will remain so.” Questioning the locus standi of the Security Council in enforcing the NPT, he said the role of the world body “would arise if those treaties (like the NPT) themselves provided for such a role”. — PTI