US joins India to oppose stronger UN nuke rules

For once, India and the US seem to be in unison about the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - both countries voted against an overwhelming majority supporting stronger implementation of the NTP in a UN General Assembly resolution.

The resolution calls on nuclear-armed countries, including India and Pakistan, to "promptly" and unconditionally accede to the NPT and place all their nuclear facilities under nuclear regulator IAEA's safeguards.

The US was the prime motivator of the NTP; but the world's biggest military power seems to have cowed down when its own massive nuclear arsenal is under threat of inspection.

The draft resolution on achieving a nuclear weapon-free world and accelerating the implementation of nuclear disarmament commitments was adopted in the UN General Assembly session on Tuesday by a vote of 169 in favour to seven against, with five abstentions including Britain, France, China and Bhutan.

Prior to the passage of the draft as a whole, a separate vote was also taken on an operative paragraph, which stressed the fundamental role of the NPT in achieving nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

India, Israel and the US voted against the preambular paragraph 24, which emphasised the importance of a successful 2015 NPT Review Conference.

It urged India, Israel and Pakistan to accede to the NPT as non-nuclear-weapon states without conditions, and to place all their nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

The provision was retained by a vote of 166 in favour and three abstentions - France, Pakistan and the UK.

The UN also retained operative paragraph 11, which urged all states to ''work together to overcome obstacles'' within the international disarmament machinery and immediately implement the three specific recommendations from the 2010 Review Conference Action Plan, by a recorded vote of 167 in favour to 3 against and 4 abstentions, including India.

The adopted resolution particularly criticised Israel, calling it the only Middle Eastern country that is not party to the NPT. It called on Israel to ''accede to that treaty without further delay, not to develop, produce test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce possession of nuclear weapons'' and put its nuclear facilities under the safeguard of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.

The United States, Canada, Palau and Micronesia joined Israel in opposing this measure, while 18 countries abstained.