Going beyond CTBT

Going beyond CTBT PRAFUL BIDWAI and Achin Vanaik ('Why India Should Sign CTBT, September 19-25,1998) have made a detailed, substantial case for signing the CTBT. It would certainly help many people like me to revise our stand on CTBT While one would now agree that India should sign the CTBT, it should be clearly acknowledged that CTBT, while preventing the development of new nuclear weapons, also legalises and legitimises the indefinite monopoly of the Nuclear Weapons States (NWS), given the continued refusal of the NWS to agree to timebound denuclearisation, Such timebound denuclearisation is a very legitimate and necessary demand to save humanity from decimation. Its comparison with other issues like Kashmir etc, is incorrect. Solving the problem of Kashmir cannot be compared with that of survival of humanity. Secondly, unlike the Kashmir issue, there is complete agreement on the aim of nuclear disarmament and also broadly about the method to achieve it, CTBT is unfair to non-nuclear weapons states (NNWS), yet all concerned should sign it as it is a step forward towards denuclearisation.