India Votes Against Draft NPT: Counters The UN Stand
India Votes Against Draft NPT: Counters The UN Stand
India has recently voted against draft resolution provisions requiring it to accede to NPT indicating that there was no question of joining the treaty with a status as a non-nuclear weapon state. The UN is concerned deeply about the massive dangers of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear arms and the damage which can be caused by proliferation networks. The draft resolution was approved by the First Committee of the UN General Assembly that deals with disarmament as well as issues pertaining to national security. The UNGA has 193 member nations.
The draft resolution urged the nuclear states which have not signed so far to do so and ratify the CTBT or Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Before the approval of the complete draft, votes were polled on all the provisions. This includes the operative paragraph according to which the Assembly would call on those nations which have not joined the NPT or Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state.
The provision was included by a recorded vote of 164 in favour of it as against other nations which voted against it including DPRK, Israel and India. As far as explaining its vote is concerned, India indicated that it cannot accept the call for the accession to NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state.
"India's position on the NPT is well-known. There is no question of India joining the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state. Nuclear weapons are an integral part of India's national security and will remain so, pending non- discriminatory and global nuclear disarmament," the official statement said.
The committee also took on 4 recorded votes on a resolution entitled 'Towards a nuclear weapon-free world: accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments’. Approval for the text as a whole was given through a vote of 166 in favour as against 7 opposing it. The 7 nations which opposed it included Korea, France, India, Israel, the UK, the US and the Russian Federation.
Via another provision in the resolution, the Assembly also stressed the important role of NPT for achieving nuclear disarmament and non proliferation and urged countries such as Pakistan, India and Israel for acceding the treaty as non-nuclear weapon states and placing their nuclear facilities under the IAEA watch.
India stressed on non-discriminatory NPT saying in an official statement that,
"We are concerned about the threat to humanity posed by the continued existence of nuclear weapons and their possible use or threat of use. India also shares the view that nuclear disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation are mutually reinforcing. We continue to support a time-bound programme for global, verifiable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament.”
