Text of U.N. Security Council resolution on N-tests

NEW YORK, May 29 Kyodo - The following is the full text of the U.N. Security Council president's statement, which was adopted Friday by the 15-member panel. The Security Council strongly deplores the underground nuclear tests that Pakistan conducted on May 28, 1998, despite overwhelming international concern and calls for restraint. Reaffirming its May 14 presidential statement (S/PRST/1998/12), on Indian nuclear tests of May 11 and 13, the Security Council strongly urges India and Pakistan to refrain from any further tests. It is of the view that testing by India and then by Pakistan is contrary to the de facto moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices, and to global efforts toward nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament. The council also expresses its concern at the effects of this development on peace and stability in the region. The Security Council reaffirms the crucial importance of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The council appeals to India and Pakistan, and all other states which have not yet done so, to become parties to the NPT, and to the CTBT, without delay and without conditions. The council also encourages India and Pakistan to participate, in a positive spirit, in the proposed negotiations with other states for a fissile material cutoff treaty in Geneva with a view to reaching early agreement. The Security Council calls upon all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to take immediate steps to reduce and remove tensions between them. The council reaffirms that the sources of tension in South Asia should be reduced and eliminated only through peaceful dialogue and not by the use of force or other military means. The Security Council urges India and Pakistan to resume the dialogue between them on all outstanding issues, including all those that the parties have already discussed, especially matters concerning peace and security, in order to remove the tensions between them and to enhance their economic and political cooperation. The council calls upon India and Pakistan to avoid any steps or statements that could lead to further instability or impede their bilateral dialogue. The Security Council will remain seized of the matter.