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Arab world hails India's N-tests

Condemnation by the western world notwithstanding, the series of nuclear tests conducted by India have drawn an overwhelmingly positive response from the Arab world.

This was clearly in evidence in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, where the G-15 summit of developing nations concluded earlier this week, and also in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The news of India's May 11 nuclear tests at Pokaran came on the eve of the summit, and triggered a wave of street-level jubilation among the Arabs.

Local newspapers in Egypt prominently carried the news, and quite a few of them wrote editorials in support.

A notably large Indian community here and in the Mediterranian city of Alexandria celebrated the news by distributing chocolates and toasting each other.

Some of the Egyptians said they were proud that India, a long-standing friend of the Arab world, had carried out the tests and joined the big league of nuclear powers.

''We always knew India is great and had the potential to emerge a superpower. By conducting the nuclear tests, it has shown that developing and non-aligned nations are inferior to none,'' said 45-year old Amir Qadir.

The large Indian community in Dubai also celegrated the country's nuclear tests.

The staff at a duty-free shop in Dubai, which the Indian delegation to the G-15 summit visted on its way back home, made anxious inqiries regarding the whereabouts of Vice President Krishan Kant.

''We want to congratulate him,'' they told the delegation, adding that they were ''very proud'' of India's having exploded the nuclear bombs.

''We have celebrated the event here in Dubai," they said with a sense of pride.

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