The 1998 nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan marked a watershed in the nuclear history history in the sub-continent, and deterred New Delhi [Images] from 'punishing' its neighbour after Kargil [Images] war and the 2001 Parliament attack, US experts have opined at a major conference in Washington.

On the 10th anniversary of the tests, Bob Einhorn, assistant secretary of state in charge of non-proliferation in the Clinton administration, suggested that the explosions signified "death of universality of Non Proliferation Treaty", and eventually lowered the "perceived costs of going nuclear".

Speaking at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, he underscored the strategic magnitude of the tests, calling them a "watershed in nuclear history" in the subcontinent.

"An arms crawl began to look at an arms race. There was a negative impact on the global non proliferation regime that moved away from optimism to pessimism," Einhorn told a seminar organised by the asia programme of the Centre along with its international security studies programme.

"The May 1998 tests ushered in a lengthy period of proliferation pessimism. The tests showed that universality of the Non Proliferation Treaty was dead," the former Clinton administration official, taken as a hawk on non-proliferation matters, said.

Professor Devin Hagerty of the University of Maryland at Baltimore County argued that the tests had its effect on two major crises between India and Pakistan -- Kargil in 1999 and the attack on Indian Parliament by Pakistani terrorists in 2001.

The effect of two countries was in the sense that nuclear weapons inhibited or deterred India from punishing Pakistan, he said On his part, Einhorn set aside the notion that explosions had little or no effect on the shape of international system, as it pertained to the global non-proliferation regime.

 He said that another implication of the tests was in the perception of lowering the perceived costs of going nuclear.

"The tests triggered the Glenn amendment sanctions but the first of these punitive measures were beginning to be taken off within six months, and in a three-year period all sanctions had been removed," Einhorn said.

The early repeal of the sanctions gave the impression that factors like commercial and political considerations had   higher objectives than non-proliferation, the former state department official said.

The Director of the Asia Programme at the Wilson Centre Bob Hathaway suggested that the 1998 tests appeared to be a major threat to regional security and world peace at that time, but 10 years down the line, their implications did not appear to be earth-shaking.