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.