Melbourne: Australia, in a bid to take a leading role in getting a global ban on nuclear weapons, may ask the non-NPT signatory nations like India, Pakistan to join its newly set up nuclear disarmament commission.

"Australia, being the world's biggest uranium supplier with a track record of its engagement over a range of nuclear issues, is well-equipped to play some kind of leadership role here," Gareth Evans, who will co-chair Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's newly formed nuclear disarmament commission said today.

"It is a big issue, the world wants something done and the truth of the matter is we have not yet got the kind of momentum we need as an international community to get something done," he said, adding if this can contribute only in a small way to generating that momentum, it will be worthwhile.

Yesterday, Rudd picked Evans to be Australia's head of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Commission, which he hopes will coordinate international talks ahead of a review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2010.

The initiative came after Rudd's visit to the shrine dedicated to the victims of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bombing in Japan. Although the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a process of disarmament around it already existed, the new commission would boost disarmament efforts, ABC quoted the former foreign minister as saying.

"It could bring in nations that are not party to the treaty or not abiding by its rules, including India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea," he added. It was time the world moved beyond stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, and on to outlawing these awful weapons for good, Evans said.

Terming nuclear weapons one of the world's biggest problems, Evans said, "it was time the world moved beyond stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, and on to outlawing these awful weapons for good."

The new body will be co-chaired with Japan. Rudd will discuss the initiative with Japanese leaders later this week and hopes other countries will support it.  Meanwhile, critics have raised questions on why Australia was taking on such an ambitious role.  Denying that the new anti-nukes push had happened overnight, Evans said it was a Labor election commitment, and he had discussed the new commission with Rudd in January.

"Out there in the international community there is a real anxiety about this issue, it's right up there with climate change, it's right up there with the continuing concern about terrorism," he said.  Evans said it might be time for a whole new treaty and framework on nuclear disarmament to replace the NPT.

"The NPT process has been limping, has been fragile for many years now," he said.  The NPT, which allows some countries to have nuclear weapons, was perceived as discriminatory, Evans said.

Source : PTI