India wants a nuclear weapon-free world: Ansari

Stressing that India had always aspired for a world free of nuclear weapons, Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Sunday called upon all nuclear powers...

Stressing that India had always aspired for a world free of nuclear weapons, Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Sunday called upon all nuclear powers to reaffirm themselves to the task of time-bound and complete elimination of their nuclear arsenal. “The horrors of the use of nuclear weapons have convinced all responsible nations that elimination of nuclear weapons is necessary,” he said while inaugurating the 18th World Congress of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) here.

“Reaffirmation of the unequivocal commitment of all nuclear-weapon states to the goal of complete elimination of nuclear weapons was one of the actionable and concrete steps towards nuclear disarmament,” Ansari said. He also called for a convention on the complete prohibition of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.

Talking about India’s commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons, Ansari said New Delhi had first proposed an end to nuclear testing way back in 1954. Even the principles of a Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) were first suggested by India in 1965, he said. “India eventually refused to sign the NPT when it became clear that, instead of addressing the central objective of universal and comprehensive non-proliferation, the treaty only legitimised the continuing possession and multiplication of nuclear stockpiles by those few states possessing them,” he said.

Recalling the efforts of former PM Rajiv Gandhi in this regard, Ansari said, “India aspires for a world that embodies this vision of Rajiv Gandhi, of a non-violent world, free from the scourge of nuclear weapons. We have always held that progress towards nuclear disarmament will require mutual confidence in the international community to conclude universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable prohibitions on nuclear weapons leading to their complete elimination.”