Answering a question about the Government's position on the CTBT, he said that India's position was ``a matter for negotiation'' and that he would not disclose it in advance.

Expressing his disappointment over US president Bill Clinton's statement calling the tests a ``terrible mistake'', he said that he had expected a better understanding of India's security interests from President Clinton.

Taking the standard MEA line about the nuclear weapons regime being discriminatory, he shrugged off the global outrage at the tests by saying that most of the nations criticising India were themselves nuclear powers or those that were covered by a ``nuclearumbrella''. ``This is a classic case of double standards. Let them search their hearts and tell us if we have done anything worse than what they have done for the last fifty years,'' he said.

Talking specifically about China, he expressed the hope that Sino-Indian relations would not suffer too much despite the strong reaction the tests had drawn from Beijing. About the possibility of a meeting between the Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif and himself he trotted out the standard reply about outstanding issues being best resolved through dialogue.