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US to try new tack in Talbott-Singh talks

The United States has decided to intensify its diplomacy to try and get both India and Pakistan to abide by global nuclear non-proliferation norms, apparently giving an added significance to the Jaswant Singh-Strobe Talbott talks, beginning in New Delhi later this month.

President Bill Clinton's national security advisor Samuel ''Sandy'' Berger, who made this announcement at the 7th Carnegie International non-proliferation conference in Washington today, however, did not spell out his administration's new approach.

He said if there was enough progress in meeting the non-proliferation concerns, Clinton might visit New Delhi and Islamabad by the end of this year. The president, who was scheduled to visit the region in November last, cancelled his tour in protest against the nuclear tests of India and Pakistan in May last year.

He made it a point to mention that India and Pakistan had announced their decisions to adhere by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and said it was all the more essential now for the US senate to ratify the pact.

He also expressed concern at the proliferation of ballistic missiles in South Asia.

Though Berger avoided any reference to the ongoing talks between India and the US, indications here are that the US might come up with new ideas at the forthcoming talks between Talbott and Singh in New Delhi.

According to reports, the US might ask India to spell out its concept of minimum nuclear deterrent. The idea has not been welcomed by India but discussion on it in the New Delhi talks is not ruled out. The Delhi round will be the 8th in the series of talks between Talbott and Jaswant Singh which began shortly after India's nuclear tests in May last.

Berger said the nuclear tests by India and Pakistan were the major events last year in the filed of nuclear proliferation.

He, however, said these tests did not pose a threat to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty regime.

Earlier, United Nations under-secretary-general for disarmament affairs Jayantha Dhanapala also said in the aftermath of the South Asian tests, some observers drew ''hasty and erroneous'' conclusion that the NPT regime has been crippled. ''The truth, however, is that the regime has in many respects fared quite well, even under these trying circumstances,'' he added.

Dhanapala, however, said, ''The tests in South Asia do indeed pose threats to the global norms of both non-proliferation and disarmament, primarily through their potential demonstration effect.''

''If countries are perceived to derive certain benefits from ignoring such fundamental global norms, the risk could grow that others will either follow suit or seek various forms of compensation for the continued participation in the regime,'' he added.

The UN official said, ''This is admittedly a hypothetical danger but one that nevertheless deserves to be taken seriously. It is a danger, incidentally, that applies to the goals of both non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament.'' He was also critical of the popularity of the concept of nuclear deterrent in South Asia.

UNI

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