UNITED NATIONS: India, along with the US and Pakistan, has voted against a provision in a UN resolution calling on to “promptly” accede to the NPT as non-nuclear- weapon nation “without conditions” and to place all its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards.
A draft resolution on achieving a nuclear weapon-free world and accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments was adopted in the UN General Assembly session yesterday by a recorded vote of 169 in favor to 7 against with 5 abstentions including by Bhutan and China.
Prior to the passage of the draft as a whole, a separate vote was also taken on operative paragraph 9, which stressed the fundamental role of the NPT (non-proliferation treaty) in achieving nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and urged India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to it as non-nuclear-weapon States promptly and without conditions and to place all their nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
The provision was retained by a recorded vote of 165 in favor with India, Israel, Pakistan, the US voting against and Bhutan, France, the UK abstaining.
India, Israel and the US also voted against the preambular paragraph 24, which emphasized the importance of a successful 2015 NPT Review Conference.
The provision was retained by a vote of 166 in favor and three abstentions from France, Pakistan and the UK.
The Assembly also retained operative paragraph 11, which urged all States to work together to overcome obstacles within the international disarmament machinery and immediately implement the three specific recommendations from the 2010 Review Conference Action Plan, by a recorded vote of 167 in favor to 3 against and 4 abstentions including India.
India, Israel and the US also voted against a provision which would emphasize the importance of a successful 2015 Review Conference.
The provision was retained by a recorded vote of 166 in favor with 3 abstentions (France, Pakistan and UK).
The general Assembly also took up the draft resolution, ‘Towards a nuclear weapon-free world: accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments’ and adopted by a recorded vote of 169 in favor with India along with Israel, the UK, the US voting against the resolution. India has repeatedly stressed that there is “no question” of it joining the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state.
Ambassador D B Venkatesh Varma, Permanent Representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, had said at a UN debate on Nuclear Weapons in October that as a responsible nuclear power India has a policy of credible minimum deterrence based on a No First Use posture and non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states.
He had said that India was prepared to covert these into bilateral or multilateral legally binding arrangements.
He had said India was committed to working with the international community to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and their means of delivery, including through strong national export controls and early membership of multilateral export control regimes.
India appreciated the strong expressions of support it had received from a number of countries.
He further said that India believes that increasing restraints on use of nuclear weapons would reduce the probability of their use – whether deliberate, unintentional or accidental and this process could contribute to the progressive de-legitimization of nuclear weapons, an essential step for their eventual elimination, as was achieved for chemical and biological weapons.
Noting India’s unwavering commitment to universal, non- discriminatory, verifiable nuclear disarmament, he had said nuclear disarmament can be achieved through a step-by- step process underwritten by a universal commitment and an agreed global and non-discriminatory multilateral framework.
“We have called for a meaningful dialogue among all states possessing nuclear weapons to build trust and confidence and for reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in international affairs and security doctrines.
Given the complex current international situation, the need for building global trust has become all the more imperative,” he added.–PTI
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