India on Tuesday warned that nuclear terrorism will remain a potent threat as long as there are terrorists seeking to gain access to atomic material and technologies, asserting that the best guarantee for nuclear security is a world free of such weapons.
“India is acutely conscious of this threat,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, addressing the second Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.
He said an India-piloted resolution on measures to deny terrorists access to weapons of mass destruction had been adopted by consensus since 2002.
Singh said India backed the extension of the UNSC resolution 1540 and the work of its Committee. The resolution seeks enforcement of legal and regulatory measures against the proliferation of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons to non-state actors.
“Nuclear terrorism will remain a potent threat as long as there are terrorists seeking to gain access to nuclear material and technologies for malicious purposes,” Manmohan fingered towards Pakistan without naming it.
The best guarantee for nuclear security is a world free from nuclear weapons, he said, noting that former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi put forward an Action Plan for global nuclear disarmament in a time-bound framework almost 25 years ago. “This remains the most comprehensive and elaborate proposal to achieve this objective.”
