NEW DELHI/UN: India has rejected the UN Security Council resolution adopted on Thursday asking all non-NPT signatories to join the treaty. India said it cannot accept externally prescribed norms or standards which are contrary to India’s national interests or infringe on its sovereignty.
India also said it cannot comply with non-proliferation obligations to which it has not provided its sovereign consent.
During an unprecedented summit chaired by US President Barack Obama the powerful 15-member council approved the Resolution 1887, which calls on countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to comply fully with all their obligations.
Obama said the resolution will strengthen the NPT. "We have made it clear that the Security Council has both the authority and responsibility to respond to violations of this treaty," he said, adding that "nations with nuclear weapons have the responsibility to move towards disarmament and those without them have the responsibility to forsake them". India has refused to sign the NPT in its present format as it views the pact as discriminatory which favours the nuclear powers.
"Although we averted a nuclear nightmare during the Cold War, we now face proliferation of a scope and complexity that demands new strategies," Obama told the Council. The resolution also asks all states to refrain from conducting nuclear tests and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
