India May Sign Nuke Test Treaty
JPR:Well I saw this in The Post.
By Ashok Sharma
Associated Press Writer
Friday, September 11, 1998; 7:21 a.m. EDT
NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- India hinted today that it was prepared to sign on to a nuclear test ban, saying its objections have been met and that it was already adhering to the treaty.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told reporters in the northern city of Lucknow that his decision to refrain from conducting more nuclear tests after a series of them in May amounted to ''adherence of the nuclear test ban treaty in spirit.''
''A final decision on signing the (treaty) will be taken soon,'' Vajpayee said.
India has long objected that the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty freezes the advantage Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States have gained by decades of testing.
But now, India has been able to refine its nuclear arsenals, said Brajesh Mishra, the Indian prime minister's top adviser.
''We have undertaken a test and we now have no need for further tests,'' Mishra told reporters in New Delhi.
Vajpayee said that while U.S.-led discussions continue between India and other nuclear power states to pave the way for signing the treaty, America should grant more ''leeway and concessions'' to India to hasten the process.
This was an apparent reference to India's demand for the lifting of economic sanction imposed after it tested five nuclear devices in May.
Pakistan, with whom India has fought three wars, responded by carrying out its own nuclear tests.
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