Islamic party warns Pak govt not to sign CTBT

KARACHI, Jan 7: Around 200 activists from Pakistan's main fundamentalist Jamaat-i-Islami party today demonstrated and warned the government against signing the global nuclear test ban treaty, reports AFP.

The protest followed a statement by foreign minister Abdus Sattar earlier this week in favour of joining the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Bearded protestors shouted slogans against the United States for pressuring Pakistan to join the treaty, which the Islamic party says, would undermine the country's nuclear programme.

"We prefer to be poor but will save our atom bomb," read a poster carried by the demonstrators.

"We warn the government that it should not even think of signing CTBT," the party's central leader Naimatullah Khan told the gathering.

"We will resist any pressure from the US," he said.

Sattar has said the nation should consider signing the CTBT to seize the high moral ground, as India was likely to do so soon. "Not signing the treaty has identifiable costs but no benefits," he said.

Pakistan conducted nuclear weapons teats in May 1998 in reaction to similar blasts by archrival India.