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India not to sign CTBT

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Jan 14, IRNA
India-US-Nuke Deal
India has made it clear that it would not accept any legal binding on nuclear testing.

"There is no question of signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). We have our voluntary moratorium (on nuclear testing). That position remains," Doordarshan News said here Saturday, quoting National Security Adviser M K Narayanan who was talking with reporters while accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his three-day visit to the Philippines.

He was asked about US insistence on a legal binding banning nuclear tests and putting a cap on fissile material.

Noting that it has certain concerns with regard to the recently- enacted US law on civil nuclear cooperation, India has already made it clear that it will "walk out" of the deal if at any point it seems to undermine its national interests.

New Delhi, however, expressed confidence that the elements over which it has "genuine" reason for concern, including conditional access to reprocessing technology and reprocessing of spent fuel, would be addressed in the 123 agreement being negotiated to operationalize the deal.

Prime minister's special envoy on nuclear issue Shyam Saran recently said India has conveyed to the US that it was not ready to accept any legally-binding provision on future nuclear testing in the 123 agreement and emphasized that New Delhi would agree to fissile material control only under any multilateral framework.

He said India will retain the right to conduct nuclear test but would have to be prepared for repercussions such as snapping of the civil nuclear cooperation with the US since the waivers in the recent act do not apply to future detonations.

"There are concerns, of course... If at any point, it becomes apparent that it (deal) is something which would undermine India's national interests, we will walk out, no matter how much political investment has been made," he said.

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