London: Britain on Tuesday certified India as a completely different case from North Korea, saying "India has always been very strong on non-proliferation."
Addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following a one-on-one meeting between the two leaders, British Prime Minister Tony Blair also underlined that "UK welcomes China's strong stand against North Korea."
"We hope for a revitalisation of six-party talks," Blair said, talking about the situation in the Korean Peninsula after North Korea conducted a nuclear test on Monday. "North Korea's nuclear test is a violation of its international commitment," Blair said.
"India doesn't support the emergence of another nuclear state," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, clarifying New Delhi's stand on the emerging crisis. "India's own security has been affected by clandestine proliferation in the neighbourhood," he said, adding that "there are no parallels between India and what's happening in North Korea."
Blair also mentioned Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan during the course of his address. "We have had some success on countering proliferation by bringing in Libya from the cold and shutting down the A Q Khan network," he said
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, parried a question on whether India and Pakistan have set up a working group on Kashmir. The PM said New Delhi has agreed with Pakistan to talk on all outstanding issues on Kashmir.
The PM also didn't lose the opportunity to put more pressure on Islamabad on the 7/11 Mumbai blasts case. "We will provide credible evidence to Pakistan on the 7/11 blasts," he said, adding that "both Mumbai blast and London bombings are a reminder of common threats of terrorism that we facce."
"We need a coherent global effort to counter terrorism,” the Prime Minister said. Earlier, India and United Kingdom broadly agreed to a set of counter-terrorism measures in order to take on the emerging threat in a coordinated way.
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