NEW DELHI, Jul 18: India today justified its refusal to be a party to the Treaty to ban nuclear weapons, saying this Treaty in no way constituted or contributed to the development of any customary international law.
”India, therefore, cannot be a party to the Treaty, and so shall not be bound by any of the obligations that may arise from it,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Gopal Baglay said here replying to a query from media. He, however, stressed ”India continues to attach priority to and remains committed to universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable nuclear disarmament.”
This goal could be achieved through a step-by-step process underwritten by a universal commitment and an agreed global and non-discriminatory multilateral framework, Mr Baglay said.
”In this regard, India supports the commencement of negotiations on a comprehensive Nuclear Weapons Convention in the Conference on Disarmament, which is the world’s single multilateral disarmament negotiation forum working on the basis of consensus,” he said.
The treaty was adopted by the UN on July 7 with 122 countries voting in favour, one against it and one abstaining. The treaty seeks to prohibit states from developing, testing, transferring, stockpiling, encouraging and threatening to use nuclear weapons.
India had last year abstained from voting on a UN resolution calling for a conference to negotiate the legally binding treaty, saying it was not convinced the conference would address longstanding expectations of the international community for a comprehensive instrument on nuclear disarmament. (UNI)
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