US plans to pressurise India, Pak on N-issue

US plans to pressurise India, Pak on N-issue
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

WASHINGTON, APRIL 30: The US plans to put pressure on India and Pakistan to expose their nuclear facilities for international inspection at the Nuclear Proliferation Conference currently underway in New York, media reports said on Sunday.

Despite the goodwill generated by US President Bill Clinton's recent South Asia visit, the pressure is likely to be on India as Washington seems to be satisfied by Pakistan's assurances that it would do whatever its neighbour does, The Washington Post newspaper said.

This, reported the paper, is like manna from heaven to the Chinese, who will then remain the only nuclear weapon power in the region. US secretary of State Madeleine Albright had hinted the American intention at the opening day of the NPT meet. Under-Secretary of State Thomas Pickering, former Ambassador to India at Johns Hopkins had also spoken on similar lines.

India has said it is prepared to go non-nuclear provided there is a firm date set by which the five permanent members of the Security Council - US, Britain, France Russia and China - will eliminate all nuclear weapons in their possession.

But this is unacceptable to the five powers who are prepared to agree "in principle" to the demand but reject it in practice by claiming the right to possess nuclear weapons indefinitely. To compound that, all except China has reserved the right to first use.

According to the newspaper the US intention on the issue is an offshoot of the Arab demand that Israel open its nuclear facilities for international inspection.

The US, however, would not pressurise Israel as it is satisfied that Tel Aviv would sign the NPT if and when there is a comprehensive Middle East peace treaty assuring there will never again be an Arab attempt to wipe out the Jewish community, the Post said.

"Faced with mounting international pressure on Israel to declare its secret nuclear weapons programme the US has reached an understanding" with Egypt not to scuttle an Arab initiative in the UN to formally identify Israel as a nuclear power and urge it to open its nuclear facilities to international inspectors, the paper quoting UN and US diplomats said.

However, said the paper, with delegates set to begin discussing nuclear developments in the Middle East on Monday, Washington has indicated that it is prepared to back Egypt's proposal on the condition that any final UN document naming Israel is `balanced' and recognises three other countries, Pakistan, India and Cuba, that have not signed the nuclear agreement."

Cuba is also listed as a target for pressure but the US has conceded that it is already in a Latin American nuclear free zone.