India won't sign CTBT in present form

NEW DELHI: India on Monday maintained that it would not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in its present form but would not stand in the way of the pact.

"Our position is the same," Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters here when asked whether India would be signing the CTBT considering the US' fresh efforts to push the treaty that has been hanging fire for over a decade.

India, which favours complete and verifiable disarmament, has held on to the position that the CTBT, in its present form, is faulty as it does not provide for dismantling of weapons of mass destruction truly in universal sense.

Menon underlined that India would not ink the treaty as it is not sure that it would lead to complete disarmament.

At the same time, Menon said India will "not stand in the way" of CTBT. He, however, did not elaborate.

He noted that some countries are revisiting the treaty and India was watching the developments.