Author: Associated Press
Publication: Mercury News
Date: May 8, 2003
URL: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/5814793.htm
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
told Parliament on Thursday that India would not reciprocate on Pakistan's
offer to dismantle nuclear weapons.
Vajpayee, addressing a debate about
the fresh peace overtures between the longtime South Asian rivals, said
Pakistan's only target for nuclear weapons would be India, but India had
other countries of concern.
"We don't accept Pakistan's proposal
... as Pakistan's nuclear program is India-specific," Vajpayee said. "But
we are concerned about other states as well."
He reiterated that India had adopted
a no-first-strike nuclear policy, but Pakistan had not.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman
Aziz Ahmed Khan said Monday that Pakistan would get rid of its nuclear
arsenal if India did so as well. Islamabad also suggested the bitter rivals
make South Asia nuclear-free.
India has fought three wars with
Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947. India also fought
a border war with China in 1962, although relations are warming rapidly
between New Delhi and Beijing.
Pakistan and India declared themselves
nuclear powers after detonating atomic bombs in 1998. Neither country has
opened its arsenal to international inspectors and it is not known exactly
how many weapons they have.
The international community has
been pressing both nations to improve relations to prevent what many fear
could escalate into a nuclear confrontation.
Those fears peaked last summer when
India and Pakistan amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along their
frontier after New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing a deadly suicide
attack on India's Parliament compound. Pakistan denied involvement.
