India will not sign CTBT or NPT: Pranab Mukherjee

New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) India has asserted that it will
not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) or Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) notwithstanding its bilateral
atomic agreement with the US, which is expected to pursue
these pacts during the Obama government.

"We will not sign CTBT or NPT and we have made it
absolutely clear to the US that we are bound by the bilateral
agreement with it and India-specific safeguards with the
IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)," External Affairs
Minister Pranab Mukherjee told India Today Group Editor Prabhu
Chawla in an interview.

His comments came while responding to remarks by incoming
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that CTBT would be a
priority for the new US government.

Elaborating on his assertion, Mukherjee said he has
already made it known that India's foreign policy will be an
"extension" of national interest in the context of external
environment. "Therefore, domestic national priority will, of
course, influence the foreign policy."

To a question on India seeking help of the US, UK and
others to pressurise Pakistan on the issue of terrorism, he
said that India's foreign policy has been independent all
along and does not take cues from anybody.

"Now, we have not outsourced this (diplomacy). We are
telling everybody that you must address these problems, you
must put pressure on Pakistan because this is not just an
India-Pakistan relationship," he responded to a related
question.

Mukherjee said terrorism should not be seen through the
prism of Indo-Pak relationship but is a part of global scourge
and should be confronted collectively. "Therefore, you (US and
others) will have to play a role."

When pointed out that the required pressure on Pakistan
has not been created even after two months of the incident,
the External Affairs Minister said "diplomacy takes time. It's
not a quick-fix method that one has to just switch on or off."

He added "sometimes, it can be a delayed process, but it
is to be tested and we shall have to follow the path of
diplomacy and we will have to build up international opinion."

Noting that he was not mentioning terms like "coercion"
as it is not a "diplomatic war" with Pakistan, he said "as the
foreign minister, it is my responsibility to convince all
concerned in the international community about the gravity of
the situation.

"The issue here is effective action against terrorism to
prevent further outrages and to neutralise and eliminate the
infrastructure of terrorism. A definite de-hyphenation of the
perpetrators of terrorism and the victims of terrorism has to
take place."

To a question on Pakistan virtually rejecting the
Indian dossier of evidence, Mukherjee said "I must tell you
candidly that it is the practice of Pakistan, which they are
indulging in, which is described as denial mode."

He said India has given them not "merely information but
materials from where they can proceed for further
investigation which is to be done by them."

Underlining that the dossier contains "adequate
material", Mukherjee said Pakistan's attitude is "nothing but
tactics to divert attention from the main issue to the side
issue". PTI