India, Pakistan got atomic arms “legitimately”: US

By Irwin Arieff

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Ambassador to the United
Nations John Bolton said on Wednesday the way India and
Pakistan had obtained nuclear arms was legitimate, in contrast
to Iran which he accused of pursuing atomic weapons in
violation of its international undertakings.

While Iran is seeking to conceal development of nuclear
weapons under the guise of a legitimate program to generate
nuclear power, Bolton said, India and Pakistan “did it
legitimately.”

His comments, made in response to an audience question
following a speech to a meeting of the World Jewish Congress,
appeared to go farther than the administration of President
George W. Bush has previously gone in embracing the two
nations’ nuclear programs.

They also coincide with a visit by Bush to India in which
the United States is offering New Delhi de facto recognition of
its nuclear arms program. Bush is due to travel to Pakistan
from India.

The United States imposed punitive sanctions on India after
it tested a nuclear bomb in 1998. In the same year, the U.N.
Security Council unanimously passed a resolution condemning
India and Pakistan for their nuclear weapons tests.

Under a deal India and the United States agreed in
principle in July 2005, New Delhi would commit itself to
certain international nonproliferation standards including
putting its civilian nuclear facilities under international
inspection.

In return it would gain access to U.S. civilian nuclear
technology, including fuel and reactors, that it was denied for
30 years. India’s military facilities would not be subject to
inspections under the deal.

At the same time, the U.S. administration is pressing Iran
to turn its back on a program to enrich uranium on its own
soil, a plan Tehran insists is intended only to produce
electric power but which Washington insists aims to develop
nuclear bombs.

Bolton noted that neither India nor Pakistan had ever
signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, intended to
contain the spread of atomic arms, while Iran had done so.

“I give them (India and Pakistan) credit at least that what
they did was consistent with the obligations they undertook,”
Bolton said.

“They never pretended that they had given up the pursuit of
nuclear weapons. They never tried to tie what they were doing
under a cloak of international legitimacy. They did it openly
and they did it legitimately,” he said.

The 1998 Security Council resolution called on India and
Pakistan to stop all nuclear development programs immediately
and urged other states to stop selling either country equipment
that could be used in atomic arms.