India will not commit to US on atomic testing
India said yesterday it would make no explicit commitment to the United States not to conduct fresh nuclear tests as part of a landmark civilian atomic cooperation agreement.
New Delhi has refused to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), calling it discriminatory, but it did announce a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing after it conducted atomic tests in 1998.
The civilian nuclear agreement was finalised when President George W. Bush visited India last month.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. But a draft of the deal framed since suggested that the pact would be discontinued if India tested a nuclear device, the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
"In preliminary discussions on these elements, India has already conveyed to the US that such a provision has no place in the proposed bilateral agreement," the statement said.