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PM places national interests ahead of signing CTBT

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared in the Rajya Sabha today that no country could compel India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty if it was not in its security interests, and asserted that the research and development programme would not be restrained, and the safety and effectiveness of the country's credible minimum nuclear deterrent would be maintained.

Replying to members who sought clarifications on his statement on Indo-US relations yesterday, Vajpayee said the government had the supreme national obligation of ensuring the security of present and future generations in a nuclearised world ''which has been thrust upon us.''

''It is in that context that the government has announced its determination to maintain a credible minimum nuclear deterrent," he added.

Vajpayee explained that the minimum deterrent meant not only the capability but the ''means to deter present threats and defend ourselves against any future threats.''

He said the deterrent was "not a question of numbers but of a policy approach which grows out of national experience and is based on the consensus that exists on these matters.''

''Our approach is not expansive or aggressive but which carries assurance and self-confidence," he added.

UNI

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