• What is at the heart of the testing issue?

While India may not be a nuclear-weapon state under the NPT, it is a de facto nuclear weapon state. The primary rationale for the Indo-US nuclear agreement with obligations on both sides was to accommodate India in international civil nuclear commerce as a de facto nuclear weapon state.

There are currently five — China, France, Russia, UK and USA — NPT defined nuclear weapon states, three self declared nuclear weapon states — India, North Korea and Pakistan — on the basis of having conducted nuclear tests, one state — Israel — presumed to have nuclear weapons and any number of states capable/desirous of developing nuclear weapons.

The five NPT nuclear weapon states have declared a moratorium on nuclear testing and all are signatories to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) although only three of these five countries — France, Russia and United Kingdom — have ratified the treaty. India and Pakistan too have declared unilateral voluntary moratoriums although neither has signed the CTBT. Since the CTBT has not come into force, the NPT nuclear weapon states are not legally barred from conducting any nuclear tests. They do not face any difficulties if they resume testing any time — other than any criticism of such a test by others in the international community. In the normal course of circumstances, India and Pakistan too would not face any constraints on testing except, of course, some sanctions by US and others — as happened after the 1998 tests by these two countries.

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