*Condemn the NSG decision * *to approve special exemption for India from its nuclear trade rules. *
*Statement by Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace - CNDP * The decision of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to approve a special exemption for India from its nuclear trade rules deserves to be condemned as strongly as the Indo-US nuclear deal and for the same reasons. The Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (CNDP) continues to oppose the deal as it undermines the prospects of global nuclear disarmament, promotes the cause of nuclear militarism and nuclear-weapon build-up in India, threatens to intensify the arms race between India and Pakistan , carries forward the perilous US-India "strategic partnership", and seriously distorts India's energy priorities.The NSG decision is a major step towards operationalising the deal, which while serving vested interests, both political and corporate, would clearly raise the likelihood of a global/regional apocalypse and is even otherwise detrimental to the interests of people of India. As a group committed to nuclear disarmament, the CNDP condemns the NSG decision as well as the means – the use of diplomatic threats and brute coercive power – adopted to reach this decision. The CNDP also finds the statement by Pranab Mukherjee on September 5, which is credited with having secured the consent of some of the initially dissenting members of the NSG, including Austria, Ireland and New Zealand, deeply hypocritical. More so, as his reiteration of India's commitment to "a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing" completely dodges the issue of Indian Prime Minister's categorical assertion in the Indian parliament in his concluding reply to the debate on confidence motion as recently as on July 22 last: "I confirm that there is nothing in these agreements which prevents us from further nuclear tests if warranted by our national security concerns". If it is to be sincere, the claim that India does "not subscribe to any arms race, including a nuclear arms race" means that the country should commit to not manufacturing any more nuclear weapons, to ceasing the production of plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium, stopping the construction and plans for deployment of a nuclear submarine, and not developing longer range missiles. The CNDP calls upon India to adopt all of these measures immediately as a part of a larger effort to further global nuclear disarmament. Signed /- *Admiral Ramdas, Sukla Sen and J. Sriraman * Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace – CNDP A – 124 / 6, 1st Floor, Katwaria Sarai New Delhi – 110016, telefax - 011-26517814 e mail – [EMAIL PROTECTED]
