The nuclear agendas followed by the `Big Five' Western powers are responsible for the deadly nuclear arms race in the Asian subcontinent, stated Simon Carrol, a spokesperson for Greenpeace, who is leading a fact-finding mission on the nuclear tests conducted at Pokhran, at a press conference in the city on Friday.

Attacking both India and Pakistan for conducting ten nuclear tests within a span of just 15 days, Carrol stated that the status of a nuclear weapon state is a black label and urged both countries to sign and ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). ``India and Pakistan should also come together to commence discussions of regional security issues and measures to reduce the tension,'' he appealed.

The Greenpeace also urged both India and Pakistan to immediately dismantle their testing facilities. It alsourged the big five to begin discussions on specific disarmament measures and avoid scrapping defence ties with India and Pakistan. Economic sanctions would be of no help as the nuclear devices had already been tested, added Carrol.

Greenpeace's fact-finding team is also in Pakistan on a similar emission. Carrol, who is accompanied by another anti-nuclear campaigner Ben Pearson, has plans to talk to locals and scientists about the ill-effects of nuclear testing. Separate letters condemning the nuclear tests have also been addressed to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to urge both governments to sign the CTBT.

Greenpeace felt that the onus of maintaining global peace and ensuring a nuclear arms-free world now lay on the United Nations and its Security Council.