(RTTNews) -  India ruled out Friday signing both the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in their present forms, virtually rejecting the U.N. Security Council resolution on the NPT adopted at the instance of U.S. President Barack Obama, reports say.

The resolution, passed Thursday at a summit-level meeting on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and chaired by Obama, called for strengthening international controls on the proliferation of nuclear weapons, besides including universalizing membership of the NPT and the immediate adherence to its norms by non-parties.

In a letter to the president of the 15-member Security Council, New Delhi said it would not comply with non-proliferation obligations to which it had not consented. Also, India was not a nuclear-weapon-state and it would not sign the NPT in that capacity.

"India cannot accept externally-prescribed norms or standards on matters within the jurisdiction of its Parliament or which are not consistent with its constitutional provisions and procedures, or are contrary to its national interests or infringe on its sovereignty," said the letter from Hardeep Singh Puri, India's permanent representative to the U.N.
Meanwhile, Shyam Saran, Indian Prime Minister's Special Envoy on climate-change, told reporters in Pittsburg that India did not intend to be a party to the NPT as a non-nuclear-weapon state.

Asked whether India would sign the treaty with the UNSC asking non-NPT states to sign it, he replied India was committed to nuclear disarmament as well as a unilateral moratorium on conducting nuclear tests.

Separately, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said in New York that India had taken a "principled" stand on the CTBT-- which bans the conducting of nuclear tests--and to support negotiations on a pact banning the production of fissile material for manufacturing nuclear weapons. As such, there was no scope for change in its position unless many other "developments" took place to address its concerns.

by RTT Staff Writer

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com