NEW DELHI - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday urged India to sign an international treaty banning nuclear testing and support another that puts a cap on the production of fissile material needed for making atomic weapons.
In a public speech in New Delhi, Annan said he was pleased the international community had managed to successfully conclude a convention on nuclear terrorism earlier this month. "I beg hope India will set an example by rapidly adhering to that convention, and will also soon sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, as well as giving active support to the negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty," Annan said.
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The convention on nuclear terrorism adopted by the UN General Assembly on April 13 gives legal definitions to virtually all varieties of potential terrorist acts. Adopted by consensus after seven years of negotiation, it was added to 12 existing anti-terror measures.
India, which came out of the nuclear closet in 1998 conducting five tests, has resisted signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) describing it as discriminatory. New Delhi says the CTBT does not address its concerns on complete nuclear disarmament, does not aim to abolish or ban nuclear weapons but allows countries with atomic arms to refine their arsenals with simulated tests. India announced a moratorium on further tests immediately after its 1998 tests.
On the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty, which demands an ends to the production of fissile material, India says it will follow the five nuclear weapon states -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States. |