Sri Lanka decries sanctions, backs nuclear tests

NEW DELHI, May 15 Kyodo - India received a first favorable reaction to its nuclear tests Friday when Sri Lanka denounced Western countries for imposing sanctions on New Delhi and raised no objections to India becoming a nuclear power, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported. ''We are not opposed to India becoming a nuclear power,'' Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadigarmar told the Foreign Correspondents Association (FCA) in Colombo. He also suggested abolishing the nuclear club comprising the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China and, in the wake of the nuclear tests conducted this week, its sixth member, India. India conducted five underground tests in a desert range in the northern state of Rajasthan this week, shocking the world and inviting widespread condemnation and economic sanctions. While Pakistan, India's arch enemy, has reacted angrily to New Delhi's tests and is expected to detonate a device soon in response according to PTI reports, other South Asian states Bangladesh and Nepal have expressed concern over New Delhi's actions, while Bhutan has so far remained noncommittal on the issue.