Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

India willing to accept de facto NWS status

In a significant statement to members of the Standing Committee on External Affairs, Foreign Secretary K Raghunath on Friday said India would not "necessarily" strive for the Nuclear Weapon State (NWS) status.

"We wish to work towards a system which need not necessarily formalise our status as either a nuclear weapons state, or something corresponding to it, but in de facto terms, to bring into being a system in which technology denial based on the NPT is abolished," he said.

According to the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), only countries which have exploded a nuclear device before January 1, 1967, can be accorded the status of Nuclear Weapon States.

Further, Article I of the NPT enjoins signatories not to pass on any kind of technology, including technology for peaceful development of nuclear energy, to countries which are non-nuclear weapon states and which are not signatories to the NPT.

The NPT, as it stands currently, does not accord NWS status to India. As India is not a signatory to the NPT, it also prohibits transfer of technology for peaceful development of nuclear energy.

According to informed sources, the Foreign Secretary, statement makes it clear that India would not be averse to a de facto nuclear weapon status, which would lift curbs on transfer of nuclear technology to this country.

His statement marks a reappraisal of India's quest to seek formal nuclear weapon status through suitable amendments to the NPT.

Foreign Ministers of G-8 countries, who met in London on June 12 after the nuclear tests, in their joint communique had said the recent tests by India and Pakistan would not change the definition of a NWS in the NPT. "Therefore, notwithstanding those tests, India and Pakistan do not have the status in accordance with NPT." The Foreign Secretary also told members of the standing committee that the "Entry Into Force" clause (Art 14) of the Comprehensive Test ban Treaty (CTBT) was mainly targeted at India.

According to Mr. Raghunath, while India had hoped its reservations on the CTBT would be taken into due consideration before the conclusion of the treaty, Article 14 was introduced, making the treaty's conclusion conditional upon a number of countries, 44 specifically, including India, ratifying it.

However, Mr. Raghunath stated India's willingness to adhere to some of the undertakings contained in the CTBT, but said it could not be done in a vacuum.

In the context of the world's efforts towards setting up a global nuclear disarmament regime, he reiterated India's demand to institute a Nuclear Weapons Convention on the same principle as the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993, and the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972.