India Blasts Nuclear-Haves; UN May Deny Nuclear Status to New Powers
     06-JUN-98

     By Krishnan Guruswamy
     Associated Press Writer

     NEW DELHI, India (AP) India accused the original nuclear powers on
     Friday of threatening its security by failing to curb the transfer
     of dangerous technology, while the U.N. Security Council took
     steps to deny India and Pakistan status as nuclear states.

     The council late Friday reached tentative agreement on the status
     question in a Japanese resolution, which also urges the rivals to
     halt nuclear weapons programs.

     Council President Antonio Monteiro of Portugal said the 15
     ambassadors reached tentative agreement on the wording and would
     await instructions from their governments whether to approve it
     formally.

     New Delhi on Friday said its security was threatened because the
     five declared nuclear powers had failed to curb the "clandestine
     transfer" of nuclear technology to its neighbors as it is required
     to under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

     It also rejected any offer of outside help to negotiate its
     dispute with Pakistan over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, a
     conflict that has sparked two wars between the two rivals since
     the Asian subcontinent gained independence in 1947.

     "There is no room for any outside involvement of any nature
     whatsoever in this process," a government statement said.

     India set off five underground nuclear tests last month, prompting
     Pakistan to retaliate with a series of tests two weeks later.

     India's declaration came one day after the world's five
     long-standing nuclear powers urged India and Pakistan to keep
     their bombs and missiles in storage and resolve their decades-old
     disputes.

     The five also refused to confer permanent membership in the
     "nuclear club" upon India and Pakistan, saying that to do so would
     encourage other nations to defy global arms reduction efforts.

     The Security Council followed up on those concerns by considering
     the Japanese resolution. The council adjourned at 10:45 p.m. EDT
     and agreed to resume Saturday morning.

     The resolution urges both countries to halt the deployment of
     missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads and asks them to
     find "mutually acceptable solutions" to the "root causes of those
     tensions, including Kashmir."

     But in a letter to the council, Indian U.N. Ambassador Kamalesh
     Sharma accused the council of overstepping its authority, saying
     the resolution involved "sovereign decisions taken by member
     states, not matters in which the council has any role."

     Sharma asked whether the Security Council can "continue to ignore
     the overwhelming demand" of the rest of the world "for elimination
     of nuclear weapons" when the most important council members refuse
     to dismantle their own arsenals.

     In Islamabad, the Pakistan government reacted to Thursday's
     declaration in Geneva with assurances that it would act
     responsibly with its newfound nuclear capability but not allow
     itself to fall behind India.

     "While we will not provoke escalation, our responses will be
     carefully calibrated to respond to any provocation or escalation
     by India," a government statement said.

     New Delhi has held several rounds of talks over the years with
     Pakistan to resolve the dispute over Kashmir, India's only
     Muslim-majority state, but little progress has been made.

     A separatist movement erupted in Kashmir in 1989 and over the
     years some 18,000 people have been killed in frequent gun battles
     between Indian security forces and a dozen militant groups.