- Washington (PTI) - The US
has said tension between India and Pakistan was "dangerously
high"
and cautioned that the proliferation of nuclear materials and technology
transfer posed a serious threat to international security.
-
- "We are currently faced with dangerously high
tensions
in South Asia between India and Pakistan, both of which have nuclear
explosive
devices," US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton
said yesterday at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
-
- Charging "enterprises in at least a dozen
countries"
with missile proliferation activities, Bolton warned that "most of
these (activities) are serous and could result in US sanctions, as has
been done several times over the past year."
-
- Urging control of missile-related transfers, he said
all countries must "ensure that private companies operating within
their borders cease illegal missile transanctions."
-
- Bolton sounded alert of a possibility of use of nuclear
and radiological weapons by rogue states or terrorist groups.
-
- Recalling the attacks in the US on Sept 11 last year,
Bolton said "the fight against terrorism will remain top international
security priority. US and its partners in this fight will meet this threat
with every method at our disposal. Above all, we are acting to end state
sponsorship of terror."
-
- Noting that terrorist groups, mostly, could not acquire
weapons of mass destruction without the support of nation-states, he said
"the fact that governments, which sponsor terrorist groups, also are
pursuing chemical, biological, nuclear and missile programmes, is alarming,
and can not be ignored. Nations that assist terror are playing a dangerous
game.
-
- Copyright © 2002 Press Trust of India Ltd. All
rights
reserved.
|
