SECRETARY-GENERAL, DEPLORING INDIAN AND PAKISTANI NUCLEAR TESTS, URGES BOTH GOVERNMENTS TO SIGN COMPREHENSIVE TEST-BAN TREATY

28 May 1998

Press Release
SG/SM/6575

SECRETARY-GENERAL, DEPLORING INDIAN AND PAKISTANI NUCLEAR TESTS, URGES BOTH GOVERNMENTS TO SIGN COMPREHENSIVE TEST-BAN TREATY

19980528 Calls for No-First-Use Pledge, Freezing of Nuclear Weapons Development Programmes

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statement issued today regarding Pakistan's nuclear tests:

I deplore both the Indian and the Pakistani tests. They exacerbate tension in an already difficult relationship.

I call on both Governments to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). They might also sign a no-first-use pledge with each other.

Finally, both nations should freeze their nuclear weapons development programmes. The number of nuclear weapons should decrease, not increase.

As we approach the new century, we should be asking how best to preserve life, culture and civilization, not how to become more destructive.

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