United Nations, Sep 27 (IANS) India has made it clear that while it attaches “the highest priority” to the goal of nuclear disarmament, any international accord to achieve this goal cannot be discriminatory.
“India attaches the highest priority to the goal of nuclear disarmament and has an impeccable non-proliferation record,” External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said addressing the UN General Assembly here Saturday.

But “the international order cannot be discriminatory. States must fulfil the obligations they have undertaken,” he said welcoming the renewed global debate on achieving a world free of nuclear weapons.

In the context of a UN Security Council resolution asking all nations to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, India has reiterated its stand that being a nuclear weapon power, it would not sign the discriminatory NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state.

“We welcome the renewed global debate on achieving a world free of nuclear weapons,” he said noting, “This corresponds with India’s longstanding and consistent advocacy of nuclear disarmament as one of the highest priority of the international community.

“We remained committed to a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing,” he said restating India’s proposal in the Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan, which calls for elimination of all nuclear weapons within a specified time frame.

India had put forward a number of proposals on nuclear disarmament in the UN, including a Working Paper in 2006, proposing elements to fashion a new consensus on disarmament and non-proliferation, he recalled.

Krishna also appealed for assistance to developing countries in combating the impact of climate change. “Developing countries must be supported financially, technologically and with capacity building resources, so that they can cope with the immense challenges of adaptation,” he said.

Turning to the issue of peacekeeping, Krishna said India stands committed to the safeguarding of international peace and security over the past five decades. New Delhi had contributed more than 100,000 peacekeepers and had suffered the highest number of casualties in these decades, he noted.

“Strengthening the normative basis for peacekeeping operations and giving major Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) a greater say, will serve to make peacekeeping more effective,” he said.