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India Will Not Sign Discriminatory NPT, Says Tharoor

India will not abide by any treaty such as the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and will not sign it as long as it is discriminatory, said Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.

Tharoor expressed the views in New Delhi on the occasion of the release of the book “Shadows Across The Playing Field – 60 Years of India-Pakistan Cricket” penned by him and Shaharyar Khan of Pakistan.

His remarks came in the backdrop of a historic meeting the United Nations Security Council chaired by US President Barack Obama, which is likely to ask countries with nuclear weapons to scrap their deadly arsenals.

“India has consistently taken a position for a very long time that universal disarmament is an objective that humanity shares. We would love to see all nuclear weapons abolished for the face of her. Unfortunately it’s not the case it is immediately in prospect. As long as some country possesses nuclear weapons we are not prepared to give support of a discriminatory treaty that some countries can have something and others cannot,” he said.

It may be mentioned that the US has also taken a decision to include a reference to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) asking all countries to “abstain from conducting a nuclear test explosion” and to join the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

In addition to India, Israel and Pakistan are two other countries which have refused to sign the NPT.

In reaction to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s statement in the United Nation General Assembly that Kashmir be declared an independent state between India and Pakistan, Tharoor said that India had good relations with Libya but it wouldn’t follow on whatever Gaddaffi said.

“We have no specific response. We have good relations with Libya. It doesn’t mean we have to agree with everything that has been said. We listen with respect to our friends from other countries. We have nothing more to say,” Tharoor added.

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