Clinton urges India, Pakistan to avoid nuke arms race

WASHINGTON, May 22 Kyodo - U.S. President Bill Clinton urged India and Pakistan in a speech Friday to avoid ''perilous'' nuclear arms, while again slamming New Delhi for conducting nuclear tests earlier this month. The president also spoke with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif later Friday over the telephone in their third such dialogue since India conducted the tests -- its first nuclear tests in 24 years -- and asked Sharif again to refrain from following the action by India, the White House said. In the commencement speech at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Clinton said, ''So again I ask India to halt its nuclear weapons program...and I ask Pakistan to exercise restraint to avoid a perilous nuclear arms race.'' The Indian action ''threatens the stability of Asia'' and raises ''the specter of a dangerous rivalry in South Asia,'' Clinton said. Noting that it ''challenges the firm international consensus to stop all nuclear testing,'' Clinton urged India to join the 149 other nations that have already signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Pakistan has repeatedly told the U.S. that it has not yet decided whether to conduct nuclear tests, but needs assurances that the security balance will be restored.