Published by: World Tibet Network News,Saturday, August 17th, 1996

NEW DELHI, Aug 17 (Reuter) - The Dalai Lama, Tibet's god-king and Nobel peace laureate, and Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam on Saturday backed India's stance on a nuclear test ban treaty and demand for a nuclear-free world.

The Dalai Lama told the Times of India newspaper in an interview that he supported India's demand for disarmament.

Ramgolam meanwhile told reporters he understood India's opposition to a global treaty banning nuclear explosions and backed its call for nuclear weapons states to eliminate their arsenals.

"We understand that India has a problem with the CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty) as it is now," Ramgoolam said after meeting Indian President Shankar Dayal Sharma.

"Mauritius understands the position of India. Mauritius is for a nuclear weapons-free world," said Ramgoolam, who is in India on a weeklong official visit.

India has vetoed the CTBT being negotiated in Geneva and has vowed to oppose further any attempts to send the draft treaty to the United Nations General Assembly.

New Delhi says the draft treaty does not commit the nuclear powers -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- to disarmament within a specified time frame and allows them to refine their arsenals through laboratory tests.

India pledged to block the treaty on the grounds that it contains a clause that will require India to ratify the pact for it to become law. New Delhi says this infringes its sovereignty.

In the interviuew with the Times of India the Dalai Lama said: "I support India's stand on the CTBT that all nuclear powers should make a timetable for eventual elimination of all nuclear weapons," the Buddhist spiritual leader told the newspaper.

"At present, what's happening is that an attempt is being made to prevent non-nuclear powers from testing. This is inadequate... it's very important to work for eventual elimination of all nuclear wepaons," he said.

Analysts say sending the treaty draft to the U.N. carries the risk that India could draw support from other members of the 185-nation non-aligned movement, who could seize on the occasion to tamper with the treaty's compromise wording.

The Press Trust of India on Saturday quoted senior military officials from two non-aligned African countries as saying they hoped India would continue to take the lead at CTBT negotiations on behalf of the world's non-nuclear nations. It did not name the countries.

REUTER