Vienna, 2 June 1998/P/K/15979c-is
INDIA/PAKISTAN/UNITED NATIONS/NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION
In a statement issued today, the President of the International
Progress Organization, Dr. Hans Koechler, criticized the traditional nuclear
powers for their failure to commit themselves to the goal of total nuclear
disarmament. Referring to I.P.O.’s earlier declarations on the issue of
the extension of the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), Dr. Koechler stated
that the insistence on non-proliferation by the traditional nuclear powers,
the holders of the veto privilege in the Security Council, has no credibility
at all as long as those powers do not make the first step towards general
nuclear disarmament. As long as those nuclear powers want to preserve their
privilege as the sole possessors of nuclear arms, non-nuclear nations will
inevitably be tempted to develop their own potential so as to correct this
imbalance in terms of arms potential and in view of self-defense and the
exercise of international influence.
The President of the I.P.O. stated that economic sanctions by the United
States or the United Nations are not the appropriate reaction to these
new developments. The peoples of India and Pakistan or any other country
must not be punished for a game of power politics which essentially has
been initiated by those powers who established themselves as nuclear powers
after World War II and who have refused to dismantle their huge nuclear
arsenals. In regard to the strategic situation in Asia, Dr. Koechler also
pointed to the fact that Israel secretly has acquired an enormous nuclear
potential with which it threatens the whole region of the Middle East.
Israel’s so far undeclared nuclear arsenal must not be ignored by those
who are honestly concerned about international security. The United States
administration is once more applying a policy of double standards when
it quietly endorses Israel’s status as a major nuclear power but openly
threatens any other country that may acquire a nuclear capability.
The President of the I.P.O. expressed the hope that India and Pakistan
will mutually agree on the non-first use of nuclear arms and that the issue
of Kashmir will be settled by peaceful means in conformity with basic principles
of international law and on the basis of relevant United Nations resolutions.
END/INDIA/PAKISTAN/UNITED NATIONS/1998-06-02/P/K/15979c-is