HOPES for an international nuclear test ban treaty were dashed last night after India made good on its threat to reject a draft version that has been 2 1/2 years in the making.
With no consensus to move ahead with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, Western diplomats said they would now explore, other paths to put the draft before the United Nation's General Assembly in New York next month.
To do so, however, means ditching the UN's principle of getting every nation with nuclear knowhow to agree unanimously on one of the most important treaties in disarmament history.
"It is not a time to blame anyone nor to give credit either," said the chief US negotiator, Mr Stephen Ledogar, who had been pushing for an agreement this week on the 90-page draft. "We still have a lot of work to do."
India resisted the draft because it contains the threat of unspecified "measures" against it, if it were to, decide not to ratify the treaty.
Asked if there was still any chance for India's concerns to be accommodated, India's ambassador to the talks, Ms Arundhati Ghose, replied: "That period is over." But, she added that India would not block a "technical report" to a plenary session of the UN Disarmament Conference today that would draw attention to its objection.
However, other diplomats ruled out the possibility of more negotiations at this stage.
That left another option - that, of individual nations, led by the US, putting the draft text directly before the General Assembly without its prior adoption by the Disarmament Conference.
. Mark Brennock adds: The Indian stance will come as a disappointment to the Irish Government, which has been among the states calling for a ban on all nuclear testing.
The White Paper on Foreign Policy, published earlier this year, said the Government "remains committed to the conclusion of a truly comprehensive test ban treaty in 1996".