India will not commit to US on atomic testing

New Delhi has refused to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), calling it discriminatory, but it did announce a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing after it conducted atomic tests in 1998.

The civilian nuclear agreement was finalised when President George W. Bush visited India last month.

But a draft of the deal framed since suggested that the pact would be discontinued if India tested a nuclear device, the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"In preliminary discussions on these elements, India has already conveyed to the US that such a provision has no place in the proposed bilateral agreement," the statement said.