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New Zealand rekindles India's hopes, but NPT question looms large

Rekindling India's hopes, he said the Seoul meeting was not an end of the road. "It is a process and talk will continue," he said.

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Grahame Morton
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Even as Opposition continued to attack the Modi government for failing to seek entry into the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), New Zealand, one of the countries which threw a spanner in the works, on Tuesday clarified that it didn't oppose India's entry. New Zealand high commissioner in India Grahame Morton said his country only wanted a criterion to be fixed for the entry of non-NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) states into the 48-nation NSG.

Rekindling India's hopes, he said the Seoul meeting was not an end of the road. "It is a process and talk will continue," he said.

While India has blamed "one country" (read China) for blocking its bid to the elite group, there were other countries that had reservations, which included Turkey, Brazil, Austria, Switzerland and New Zealand. It is now believed that New Zealand and Ireland wanted the criteria for membership to come first, before an announcement that India was meeting those criteria. Reports said Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland also stressed on a criterian, but they made it clear if India's nuclear record matches with criteria, a parallel announcement of its membership could be made.

The envoy said it is very important for NSG members to consider carefully what criteria should be used in assessing applications from non-NPT states. "This is a consistent position," he said. President Pranab Mukherjee visited New Zealand last May to convince the country to extend its support on the NSG issue. "We believe constructive discussions should lead to a pathway against which India's application can be properly considered," he said. The high commissioner further said the NSG doors for India were not closed and a constructive discussion will lead to some solution.

Experts, however, believe that in the coming months India will be under considerable pressure to sign and ratify the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it has been terming as discriminatory.

Han Hua, director for Arms Control and Disarmament at Peking University pointed out that if India, is admitted to the NSG as a nuclear weapon state — in the same category as the permanent members of the UN Security Council, it would trigger an outcry among other nuclear-capable states.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties continued to criticise Modi, saying his foreign policy lacks coherence, clarity and consistency. Both the Congress and the Left also questioned the government's Pakistan policy.

"Nobody is against engaging with Pakistan but what we have questioned him (Modi) is about not taking the opposition into confidence," Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said. He said diplomacy does not require theatrics and needs seriousness, gravitas.

CPI-M leader Brinda Karat said there is a "show-based" policy rather than a serious diplomatic initiative to deal with a neighbour which undoubtedly has been encouraging terrorists groups against India. "One day you say you are going to bomb Pakistan. The other day your Home Minister (Rajnath Singh) said you are not going to count the bullets that are going to be used against Pakistan," Karat said, adding that the Prime Minister had gone to Pakistan to meet Nawaz Sharif on his birthday.

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