The conference on NPT review will kick off on Tuesday and the Iran-West showdown over Tehran's nuclear programme is likely to dominate the proceedings. India, which is not a signatory to the NPT has decided to stay out of the conference.
Ahead of the Non Proliferation Treaty review conference, the United States on Friday said the Indo-US civil nuclear deal has not weakened the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as the pact comes with a number of 'transparency mechanisms.'
"Universal adherence to the NPT itself -- including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea -- remains a fundamental objective of the US," Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary of State said in her opening remarks at the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 NPT Review Conference being held at the UN headquarters in New York.
In a departure from tradition of not singling out countries by name, the United Nations has asked India, Pakistan and Israel to join the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty without further delay and pre-conditions.
Even though India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Obama Administration said on Wednesday that New Delhi had a key role to play in strengthening of global nuclear non-proliferation regime.
In an expected showdown, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched a verbal attack against each other at a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meeting at the United Nations on Monday.In his 35-minute speech at the NPT Review Conference, Ahmadinejad slammed Washington for bullying Tehran over its nuclear programme while not pushing the 'Zionist regime' (Israel) for getting rid of its nuclear weapons.
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India, along with the United States and Pakistan, has voted against a provision in a United nations resolution calling on to 'promptly' accede to the Non-Proliferation Treaty as non-nuclear-weapon nation 'without conditions' and to place all its nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
The crises of the 21st century, 9/11, the economic meltdown, COVID-19, Russia-Iran war and the Hamas-Israel war seem to be never ending. In this situation, Iran might be contemplating a nuclear deterrent to defend itself, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, the distinguished long-time Rediff contributor who turns 80 on June 17..
Breaking the tradition of not naming countries, the first draft of the final document of the 2010 Nuclear-Non Proliferation Treaty Review conference has asked India, Pakistan and Israel to sign the NPT and the CTBT. "The conference calls upon India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the treaty as non-nuclear weapon States, promptly and without conditions, thereby accepting an internationally legally binding commitment not to acquire nuclear weapons," it said.
China continues to sell nuclear reactors to Pakistan, a US think-tank has said, expressing concern over export of nuclear materials in violation of international norms and established procedures.
20 years ago this day, May 11, 1998, India conducted its second nuclear test at Pokharan in Rajasthan. In a fascinating interview on Rediff.com, K Subrahmanyam revealed how Indian PMs reacted to nuclear ambitions.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying said China-Pakistan cooperation is in accordance with the 48-member nuclear club, which supervises global nuclear commerce.
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