The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution asking all non-NPT signatories to join the treaty, a controversial pact which India views as flawed and discriminatory.
During an unprecedented summit chaired by US President Barack Obama, the powerful 15-member Council
approved the resolution 1887 which calls on countries that have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) "to comply fully with all their obligations."
Obama said the resolution will strengthen the NPT. "We have made it clear that the Security Council has both the authority and responsibility to respond to violations of this treaty," he said.
"Nations with nuclear weapons have the responsibility to move towards disarmament and those without them have the responsibility to forsake them," Obama said.
India has refused to sign the NPT in its present format as it views the pact as discriminatory which favours the nuclear powers.
"Although we averted a nuclear nightmare during the Cold War, we now face proliferation of a scope and complexity that demands new strategies and new approaches," Obama told the Council.
"Just one nuclear weapon exploded in a city, be it New York or Moscow, Tokyo or Beijing, London or Paris, could kill hundreds of thousands of people," he warned.
The resolution also asks all states to refrain from conducting nuclear tests and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
It seeks talks on framing a treaty to ban the production of fissile material for atomic weapons and calls on non-NPT members to join it as non-nuclear states.
The resolution also contains provisions to deter countries from abandoning the NPT.
While refraining from making any direct reference to Iran and North Korea, both dubbed by the US as "rogue" states, it refers to Security Council resolutions asking both Tehran and Pyongyang to halt their controversial nuclear programmes.