In Focus

The arguments and counter-arguments were well in place. What
went abegging was a joint consensusamong the 38 nations participating in the IO-week United
Nations-sponsaredsession of the
Conference of DisarIDament in
Geneva, which began in January
this year and continued last month.
The issue was once again the controversial Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty (CTBT) which seeks to ban
nuclear explosions worldwide.

Talks on theCTBT are now precariously !balanced. If an understanding has to be reached, then it
should be in place by summer this
year, as UN members will require
, several months to review the text
before presenting the treaty to the
next session of the UN General
Assembly in October '96. The
accord, if arrived at, could also see
the end of the SO-year old nuclear
arms race.

Disputes, however, exist over
certain provisions of the draft text
prepared by Australia. India'sconsistent proposal to link the CTBT
alongwith a concomitant process of
disarmament did not find favour
with the nuclear haves like the US,
the UK, Russia and France. India's
ambassador to the conference,
.Arundhati Ghose, stated that the
CTBT should leave "no loophole
for activity, either explosive-based
or non-explosive based, aimed at
the continued development and
refinement of nuclear weapons."
India's stand could possibly delay
consensus on the issue. Meanwhile,
China wants to be allowed to conduct peaceful nuclear explosions
which can have various civilian
applications. Further, it proposed
that any treaty should become enforceable' only after a number of
requirements are met, including
being open for signature for a minimum of two years. However, China's
interpretation found few takers.

The ongoing talks have resulted
in an agreement on an international monitoring system to detect
evidence of any clandestine nuclear
explosion.