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Nuclear powers have to do something more before India is ready to sign CTBT: PM

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today said the nuclear powers have to do something more before India is ready to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

''We are holding discussions on the issue and any decision would be possible only after the talks between the interlocutors are over,'' he said.

Addressing the media in Lucknow before returning to New Delhi after a day's visit to Uttar Pradesh, the prime minister asserted that the government was upholding the spirit of CTBT through its actions, despite its reservations on signing the treaty. ''By declaring that we are not going to undertake any more underground nuclear tests, we have implemented the spirit of CTBT.''

Asked if India would change its stand now that Pakistan is willing to sign the CTBT, he shot back, ''I am not aware what Pakistan is doing.''

He denied having had any talk with US President Bill Clinton on the CTBT issue. ''We have not even had any discussion on this subject over telephone,'' he asserted.

About Clinton's proposed visit to India, he said, ''The United States has to decide that and as far as we are concerned no decision has been taken as yet.''

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