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Accord nuke power status to India, Pak: Russian analyst

Georgi Shakhnazarov, a former ideologue of the Soviet Communist Party, favours according nuclear power status to India and Pakistan.

In an interview to the Voice of Russia, Shakhnazarov, now a leading member of the Gorbachev Foundation, criticised the United Nations Security Council's recent resolution on the tests conducted by the two countries as being responsible for complicating Indo-Pak relations.

Shakhnazarov also advised both Russia and the US to give a lead to the world in undertaking nuclear disarmament. ''Everything now depends on them,'' the leading political scientist said.

''What is the meaning of the UN's refusal to recognise India and Pakistan as nuclear powers now that both the countries have conducted nuclear tests?'' he asked.

Shakhnazarov also urged the UN to find ways to persuade the two countries to join the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Meanwhile, in a review of the situation in the Indian sub-continent following the nuclear tests, broadcast on the Voice of Russia, Russian commentators and India experts opposed any attempt to internationalise the disputes in the subcontinent and expressed surprise over the linking of the nuclear tests with the Kashmir issue.

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev also supported the Kremlin's decision not to impose sanctions on the two countries following the nuke tests conducted by them.

UNI

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