By Arvind Padmanabhan, IANS,
Pittsburgh : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made it clear that neither will India sign pacts like the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) nor does the new UN Security Council resolution make such a demand.
“We have been assured that this not a resolution directed at India and the US commitment to carry out its obligations under the civilian nuclear deal that we have signed remains undiluted,” the prime minister said here Friday night.
“We have been assured officially by the US government,” the prime minister, who had also met US president Barack Obama during the G20 summit, said at a press conference at the conclusion of the summit.
When asked if the stand taken by countries like the US, France and Britain against Iran after the discovery of a new uranium enrichment plant there would force India to sign NPT and similar international treaties, the prime minister said New Delhi’s position on Iran remained as before.
“Iran is a signatory to the NPT. As a signatory to the NPT it has all the rights that go with the membership — that is peaceful use of atomic energy. It must also carry out all its obligations,” Manmohan Singh said.
“That is the principled position we have taken in the last five years.”