‘India has right to test, others have right to react’

[LRE]

‘India has right to test, others have right to react’

* External affairs minister says India would not like to convert voluntary moratorium into treaty-bound obligation

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: India has said that despite the nuclear co-operation agreement with the United States (US), the country still retains the right to conduct a nuclear test, just like others retain the right to react to such an incident, Aaj TV reported on Friday.

According to the channel, Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, when asked to comment on India's options to conduct an atomic test after signing the Indo-US nuclear deal, said, "India has the right to test, others have the right to react."

However, India had declared a voluntary moratorium on future nuclear tests after the 1998 atomic tests at Pokhran in Rajasthan, Mukherjee told CNN-IBN.

"In regard to testing, I have already stated that we have voluntarily declared moratorium on further tests and we will continue to bind ourselves by this book," he said.

However, the minister made it clear that New Delhi would not like to convert the voluntary moratorium on testing into a treaty-bound obligation.

"We would not like to convert this voluntary moratorium into a treaty-bound obligation. That position has been maintained," he said.

He said that the deal with the US had opened nuclear trade to those countries, which were interested in having the commerce with India. Mukherjee said India's nuclear trade would depend on the type of bi-lateral, bi-party agreements which would have to be entered into with the countries concerned.

The US Senate passed the Indo-US civil nuclear deal with an overwhelming majority and is expected to be signed by Mukherjee and his American counterpart Condoleezza Rice.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...008_pg7_51