DATE=3/22/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON / INDIAN PARLIAMENT / L
NUMBER=2-260460
BYLINE=JIM TEEPLE
DATELINE=NEW DELHI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO -- President Clinton addressed both houses of
the Indian parliament Wednesday -- calling on India to
join nuclear non-proliferation efforts. Mr. Clinton
also made a strong appeal for a renewed dialogue
between India and Pakistan, saying it is up to both
countries to resolve their differences. V-O-A's Jim
Teeple has details from our New Delhi bureau.
TEXT: President Clinton received a warm welcome from
India's upper and lower houses of parliament. Mr.
Clinton -- the first U-S president to visit India in
22 years -- told parliament he hopes his visit will
lead to closer economic and commercial ties between
the two countries.
Much of Mr. Clinton's speech was devoted to the issue
of nuclear proliferation. India and Pakistan tested
nuclear devices two years ago and Mr. Clinton says it
is time for India to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty.
Mr. Clinton called on India to follow the example set
by other developing nations, which he says have
realized a nuclear future is not a more secure future.
The president says India should also look to the
example set by the United States and Russia, which
have both dismantled thousands of nuclear weapons
since the end of the Cold War. But Mr. Clinton says
it is up to Indians alone to decide whether or not to
join non-proliferation efforts.
// CLINTON ACTUALITY //
From South America to South Africa nations are
foreswearing these nuclear weapons and realizing that
a nuclear future is not a more secure future. Most of
the world is moving toward the elimination of nuclear
weapons. That goal is not advanced if any country in
any region moves in the other direction. I say this
with great respect. Only India can determine its own
interests.
// END ACTUALITY //
In his speech, Mr. Clinton prompted Indians to ask
themselves if they are more secure today than before
their nuclear tests. Mr. Clinton says India's nuclear
policies will have consequences beyond its borders.
He asked Indians to consider what the benefits of
expanding its nuclear missile capabilities were, if
their neighbors responded by doing the same thing.
Mr. Clinton also urged India to resume a dialogue with
Pakistan -- saying reaching out to Pakistan does not
require friendship. The president says he sympathizes
with India's position of being a democracy bordered by
nations which are not. Still, he says India, as a
proud democracy, can lead the way towards easing
tensions in the region.
// CLINTON ACTUALITY //
I also believe India has a special opportunity as a
democracy to show its neighbors that democracy is
about dialogue. It does not have to be about
friendship, but it is about building working
relationships among people who differ.
// END ACTUALITY //
// OPT // Mr. Clinton says someone must end the
contest of inflicting and absorbing pain in the
region. He also says he did not come to South Asia to
mediate the Kashmir dispute. He says that must be
left to India and Pakistan to work out between
themselves. But he says the United States can play a
constructive role in the region, as it did last year,
when he successfully urged Pakistan's then-prime
minister Nawaz Sharif to work to withdraw guerrilla
infiltrators back to Pakistan from Indian territory in
Kashmir. // END OPT //
In brief remarks to parliament following Mr. Clinton's
speech India's Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
defended India's nuclear weapons program, saying the
program has always been defensive in nature and will
remain so. Mr. Vajpayee says India's nuclear
weapons program remains necessary because of what he
describes as an arms buildup which he says is
continuing with "impunity" in Pakistan. (Signed)
neb/jlt/WD
22-Mar-2000 04:10 AM EDT (22-Mar-2000 0910 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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