Sign NPT as non-nuke state: Japan tells India, Pak

Warning that there are "seeds of military conflict" between India and Pakistan, Japan has said this is a "cause of concern to the world" since the Asian neighbours possessed nuclear weapons and pressed both to sign the NPT as "non-nuclear weapon States".

Warning that there are "seeds of military conflict" between India and Pakistan, Japan has said this is a "cause of concern to the world" since the Asian neighbours possessed nuclear weapons and pressed both to sign the NPT as "non-nuclear weapon States".

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"There are three states that stay outside the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, namely India, Pakistan and Israel. The fact that there are seeds of military conflict between India and Pakistan, both possessing nuclear weapons while maintaining a moratorium on nuclear testing, is a cause of concern to the world," Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said.

"Israel has not joined the NPT. Japan intends to make patient efforts to persuade these three countries to join the NPT as non-nuclear-weapon States," Nakasone said yesterday while unveiling a 11-point initiative to achieve a nuclear-free world.

Stating that Japan, the only country to experience the nuclear devastation, has a strong resolve to play the leading role in promoting global nuclear disarmament, he said Tokyo will work on China, India, Pakistan and other countries -- whose ratifications are necessary for the treaty's entry-into-force -- for their early ratification the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).