An influential US newspaper on Monday urged India to resist domestic pressures to test a nuclear weapon as its 1988 tests were a "fizzle", saying it would be a huge setback for New Delhi-Washington ties, the war on terror and halting the spread of atomic weapons.
"The United States should make clear that India has more to gain by focusing on economic growth and expanding global co-operation than on developing more nuclear weapons," The New York Times said in an editorial. "It (the US) should leave no doubt about how much India and the rest of the world have to lose if New Delhi makes the wrong choice," said the paper.
The editorial, "Just Say No," said: "If India tests, the United States is bound by a 2008 agreement to cut off all sales of nuclear fuel and technology. That would be a huge setback to India's plans to expand its nuclear power generation and its economy.
"We fear that if India tests, Pakistan will decide that it has to test. That would raise tensions between the two countries, and it would further distract Islamabad from the far more important battle against the Taliban and other extremists inside their country and along their border with Afghanistan.
"(The US) Congress recently approved a five-year, 7.5 billion-dollar aid package to strengthen civilian rule in Pakistan and encourage the fight against extremists. There would be strong pressure to cut that aid if Pakistan tested. It could make it even harder for President Obama to persuade the Senate to ratify the test ban treaty. "India (followed by Pakistan) last conducted nuclear tests in 1998.
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