India has applied for membership to NSG that is the Nuclear Suppliers Group. This application for membership has met with strong opposition from Pakistan. US said it is not about an arms race, but about civilian use of nuclear energy in response to the obvious displeasure of Pakistan’s opposition of India becoming a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Yesterday at the daily news conference, the State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters that, this is not about an arms race and it’s not about nuclear weapons. This is about the peaceful civil use of nuclear energy, and so we would certainly hope that Pakistan understands that.
The above statement was made in response to the questions raised about India’s membership application to NSG and Pakistan’s opposition to it on the grounds that India’s entry to NSG would give pace to nuclear arms race in the region. US has kept the fingers crossed before the crucial meeting of the 48 member nation of the Nuclear Supply Group. Mr. Toner also said, look, all I can say is that during his visit to India in 2015, President Barack Obama did affirm the US view that India meets missile technology control regime requirements and is ready for membership. But it’s a consensus body, so we’ll wait and see how the vote goes. He added that, deliberations about the prospects of new members joining the Nuclear Supplier Groups are an internal matter among the current members. I don’t have much to say beyond that other than that I think they meet regularly.
Toner tried to explain by saying that the forthcoming NSG meeting was not set up for this purpose. He further said that this is not a specific meeting, I believe – not set up to particularly talk about this issue. A spokes man said that the Pakistanis have made public their interest, and certainly any country can submit its application for membership. We will consider based on a consensus decision.
