Japanese dailies call for halt to Pakistan's nuclear tests

TOKYO, May 29 Kyodo - Editorials in major Japanese dailies Friday deplored the nuclear tests carried out by Pakistan on Thursday and called for the international community to take stronger measures toward nuclear nonproliferation. The special statement released at the Birmingham summit and the special envoys dispatched to Pakistan by the United States and Japan to urge the country not to conduct nuclear tests were in vain, the Asahi Shimbun said. ''We cannot dispense of efforts to improve insufficiencies in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which is unfair toward countries without nuclear capabilities,'' the Asahi editorial said. The Asahi also said a multinational security council is needed to provide an opportunity for dialogue between India and Pakistan. The Yomiuri Shimbun also stressed an urgent need to create a framework to bring about peace between India and Pakistan. ''There are signs that the Pakistani government swayed between domestic public opinion calling for nuclear tests and international public opinion to abandon the tests,'' the Yomiuri said. It also said it was a ''critical mistake'' that the leaders of the Group of Eight (G-8) major powers did not issue a unified position toward India's nuclear tests at their summit earlier this month. The G-8 leaders should have indicated clearly that not conducting nuclear tests would be in the greatest national interest of a country, it said. The Mainichi Shimbun said, ''It is not too late'' for India and Pakistan to abandon their nuclear weapons development. Although pointing to the inequalities in the NPT as well as the loopholes in the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Mainichi said the international community must continue its work toward abolishing nuclear weapons from the world.