PM hopes US will get India official nuclear power state status

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Nov 30 (PTI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
hopes that the United States will help India get the official
status of a nuclear weapons state, given its impeccable record
in the field of non-proliferation.
"Well, I hope it will happen," he told Fareed Zakaria of
the CNN when asked if he thinks that the US should try to
press the issue and have India brought into the system as a
nuclear weapons state.
The interview was taken in New Delhi, before Singh
travelled to Washington last week. Its first part was telecast
last Sunday, while the second part was aired this Sunday.
It would be a positive development, the Prime Minister
said when Zakaria asked if it is "fair to say that one of the
ultimate objectives of India would perhaps be to become a
member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty system, but to be
invited in as a nuclear weapons state in the way that China
was." Despite its status as a nuclear nation, India has never
signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Zakaria noted.
India's ultimate goal is actually to sign the treaty, but
it does not have official nuclear state status. China got that
in 1992, and that is what India wants, Zakaria said.
"Well, if we were to go that way, that would be a very
positive development from our point of view," Singh said. "We
are a nuclear weapons state, but we are a responsible nuclear
power. We have an impeccable record of not having contributed
to unauthorised proliferation of these weapons of mass
destruction," he said.
"So, I think India does require, I think, greater
consideration of the global community," Singh said.
Last week, welcoming the Indian Prime Minister at the
White House, US President Barack Obama had identified India as
a nuclear power.
"As nuclear powers, we can be full partners in preventing
the spread of the world's most deadly weapons, securing loose
nuclear materials from terrorists, and pursuing our shared
vision of a world without nuclear weapons," Obama had said.
The statement was viewed by many experts as a recognition
by the US that India is a nuclear state.
"We should cooperate in addressing global challenges of
combating terrorism, making our environment cleaner and moving
towards a world free of nuclear weapons," the Prime Minister
had said, adding that India supports the move of the Obama
Administration to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. PTI
LKJ
SKT