India will pay for violating moratorium on N-tests: Indian official
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, July 15, IRNA
India-US-Nukes
Even as it insisted that its strategic program has not been capped because of the civil nuclear deal with the US, India on Saturday conceded that if it violates the unilateral moratorium on atomic tests it will have to "pay the price" for it.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said that irrespective of the civil nuclear deal with the US, India would face the situation of 1998 when it conducted nuclear tests.
"It has been asked whether our strategic options are not being restricted as a result of the July 18 (2005) commitment to continue our voluntary moratorium. Let me make it quite clear that this is not a new commitment, even in bilateral understanding," he said while delivering a lecture on `India-US Joint Statement of July 18, 2005: A Year Later' here.
He said that in 1998, India had in the UN General Assembly expressed willingness "not only to continue the moratorium but also to move towards its de jure formalization."
"We did not go as far...," Saran said, but added that "if the moratorium is broken, we will have to pay the price like that in 1998."
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