Hope Obama understands India's special status: Krishna

Amid United States' desire to see India sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said he hoped President Barack Obama understands New Delhi's special status and compulsion for not signing it.

Amid United States' desire to see India sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said he hoped President Barack Obama understands New Delhi's special status and compulsion for not signing it.

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"Well, we presume that President Obama understands India's special status," Krishna told a TV news channel.

"Without reason President George W Bush would not have given us that kind of status so I am sure the new administration in the US will understand the compulsions of India not signing (the treaty)," he said.

A senior US official had said the administration would launch an aggressive diplomatic effort to persuade countries like India, Pakistan and Israel to sign CTBT and thus bring it into force.

India has refused to sign the CTBT on the ground that it was discriminatory and tends to create a system of nuclear apartheid dividing the world into the nuclear have's and have-nots.