The US called on members of the 48-nation elite grouping to support India’s membership during the crucial meeting of the atomic trading club in Seoul next week.
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Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj while addressing a press conference on Sunday said India will not protest Pakistan’s entry to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). “It seems a consensus is building and we hope to get the NSG membership this year”, the Minister said while hoping to cross the Great Chinese Wall too.
Asked about Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar’s quiet visit to Beijing last week, the spokesperson said India pitched for its inclusion in the NSG and the two sides exchanged ideas about it. “Therefore, there is no point talking about supporting or opposing the entry of a particular non-NPT country at this moment”, she said. “China doesn’t oppose India’s membership, China is speaking about procedure”.
While majority of the elite group members backed India’s membership, it is understood that apart from China, countries like Turkey, South Africa, Ireland and New Zealand were not in favour of India’s entry into the NSG.
At the U.S. state department briefing, spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington overnight that the USA had “routinely” spoken to NSG members about supporting India’s membership. Pakistan, India’s archrival, also has applied for membership to the group. “We did not target any country, India or Pakistan”, Hua said.
“Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) does not come sitting at home”, Sushma Swaraj said, in an apparent dig at critics who have often Prime Minister Modi’s frequent overseas travels. We think that the application of each country should be considered on the basis ofheir merit, ” she added.
He said the previous meetings of the NSG, “contrary to the claims of the Prime Minister and this government, did not have India’s membership application on the agenda”.
The adviser said that Islamabad had engaged several NSG members at the diplomatic level and gathered support for the criteria-based approach. “Instead of expressing her views in riddles she should have clearly mentioned about the elements acting as an obstacle in Pak-India relations”, Nisar said.
He called upon the Indian minister not to give a personal tinge to the ties between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi.
“If they agree on such a uniform criteria, then Pakistan has stronger credentials for NSG membership than India”, he went on to say, while responding a question. She said India’s policy on Pakistan was very clear consisting of three key elements.
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First, the time was not ripe for Indian membership as “the NSG is still divided about non-NPT countries’ entry into the NSG”.
