India pledges to sign CTBT by next Sept

NEW YORK, Sept. 25 Kyodo

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said Thursday his country is ready to sign by next September a global treaty banning nuclear tests.

Vajpayee told the 53rd session of the U.N. General Assembly that India is engaged in discussion with key countries on a range of issues, including the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

"We are prepared to bring these discussions to a successful conclusion, so that the entry into force of the CTBT is not delayed beyond September 1999," Vajpayee said.

The previous day, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, delivering a speech to the same U.N. session, said Islamabad is ready to sign the CTBT before a nuclear conference in September 1999, and he urged India to join Pakistan in signing the treaty.

The Indian announcement follows Wednesday's summit between Vajpayee and Sharif in New York, their second since nuclear tests by both countries in May this year.

Gathering in New York on Thursday, ministers from the Group of Eight (G-8) welcomed Pakistan's decision to sign the CTBT as a step toward peace in South Asia, Japanese officials said.

The ministers, however, did not refer to Vajpayee's U.N. remarks, the officials said.

The CTBT was endorsed by the U.N. General Assembly in September 1996 after two years of negotiations. It must be ratified by 44 nations, including the five declared nuclear powers and all other nations believed to have nuclear potential, before it can take effect.

Three countries in the "nuclear potential" category have not yet signed the pact -- India, Pakistan and North Korea.

In 1996, India rejected the treaty and withdrew from discussions on the matter, citing national security reasons.

India has demanded that the five declared nuclear powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- eliminate their nuclear arsenals before India signs the treaty, which it said discriminates against countries with nuclear potential.

In his U.N. speech, Vajpayee said India conducted five underground nuclear tests in May because of the country's "deteriorating security environment, which has obliged us to stand apart from the CTBT in 1996. ...These tests were essential for ensuring a credible nuclear deterrent for India's national security in the foreseeable future."

He said the tests did not signal "a dilution of India's commitment to the pursuit of global nuclear disarmament."

Nuclear tests conducted first by India and then by Pakistan in May aroused international fears of a nuclear arms race in South Asia, prompting calls for the two countries to sign the CTBT immediately and unconditionally.

Japan and the United States quickly imposed economic sanctions on both countries after the tests.

In his U.N. speech Wednesday, Sharif linked his country's signing of the treaty to an early lifting of the sanctions.

"We expect the arbitrary restrictions imposed on Pakistan by multilateral institutions will be speedily removed. We also expect discriminatory sanctions against Pakistan will be lifted," Sharif said.

Asked if Sharif was naming preconditions for signing the treaty, Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz said Wednesday, "All he said was that we are ready to adhere to the CTBT treaty...before September 1999. But we cannot do so in an atmosphere of coercion and pressure."

Some G-8 foreign ministers hinted at the possibility of easing the sanctions, but no consensus was reached during Thursday's meeting, the Japanese officials said.

During Wednesday's summit, India and Pakistan agreed to resume peace talks on the control of Kashmir on Oct. 15-18.

The two countries have fought three wars -- two of them over the ownership of the disputed northern Indian territory -- in the past 51 years.

The G-8 ministers welcomed the planned resumption of peace talks between them over Kashmir, noting peace and stability in South Asia would not advance without the restart of dialogue, the Japanese officials said.

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