Indonesia regrets Pakistan's tests

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia "deeply regrets" Pakistan's decision to conduct five underground nuclear tests on Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said yesterday.

As party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and signatory to the Convention for Test Ban Treaty, Indonesia "cannot justify nuclear arms tests by any country, including Pakistan", Alatas said in a statement released by his office.

Indonesia took the same stance when India conducted nuclear tests early this month, he noted.

The series of nuclear tests has inevitably heightened tension in subcontinent South Asia, set off a regional nuclear arms race and put the world further away from its non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament goals, which the international community has pursued since the first atomic bomb was detonated, Alatas said.

"Indonesia respects the sovereignty of every country to determine its own national interests, but as a country that fully adheres to the principles and objectives of a nuclear-free world, we are of the opinion that national security policy should be pursued without the use of arms," he added.