WHY INDIA SHOULD SIGN CTBT - RETURNING TO OUR OWN AGENDA

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is the first ever nuclear arms-relat ed-treaty to be genuinely multilaterally negotiated. It is also the fi rst ever treaty in nuclear-related fields, if and when it enters into force, which will set up a genuinely international monitoring system t hat limits national sovereignty on the question of testing, thereby es tablishing a crucial and vital precedent for the development of intern ational mechanisms of control and authority. Had India signed the CTBT in 1996, Pokharan II and very likely the Pakistan tests would not hav e happened. India signing it now cannot have the same significance. NO netheless the CTBT is relevant and India's accession to it is still im portant.