Persuading India, Pak. to sign CTBT 'not easy'

WASHINGTON, FEB. 19. The U.S. has said it was ``not easy'' to convince India and Pakistan to give up the right to conduct nuclear tests when Washington retained it, but said it would continue its efforts in the interests of the international community.

``Persuading India and Pakistan to formalise their testing moratoria through the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is a major goal of the international community... as it would help in heading off an arms race in South Asia,'' senior advisor to the President, Mr. Bill Clinton, on nuclear proliferation, Mr. John Holum, told mediapersons here yesterday.

But it was ``not easy'' as the U.S. was yet to ratify the CTBT. Mr. Clinton's efforts in this direction suffered a setback when the Senate rejected it last year.

Ruling out the possibility of the issue being considered by the Senate this year, Mr. Holum said, ``we hope to make real progress on correcting misperceptions that arose during the debate answering legitimate questions and explaining how the CTBT supports our larger national security strategy.''

The CTBT would also strengthen the Nuclear Non- Proliferation treaty, which permitted only the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to retain nuclear weapons.

The U.S. had everything to gain by ratifying the treaty, as it could withdraw from the treaty in ``supreme national interest'' and resume testing.

- PTI

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