The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Saturday urged the government 'not to buckle under pressure' to sign the civilian nuclear agreement with the United States as it will be detrimental to the country's interests.

The advice has come through a resolution adopted by the RSS Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha on the second day of its three-day meeting in Nagpur on Saturday.

Briefing newsmen, RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said that the separation of nuclear facilities and throwing the civilian sector open to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Commission was fraught with 'serious implications'.

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India [Images] is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and, therefore, not under compulsion to bow to the demand for separation, Madhav asserted. It was entirely India's prerogative to decide whether her nuclear programme will be civilian or strategic in nature, he said.

The government must chalk out a long-term nuclear policy for the country after taking into confidence all the political parties, including those in the opposition, scientists, specialists in defence and foreign policy, and the chiefs of all the three defence services, Madhav said.

There were reports that the United States President George W Bush [Images] was trying to pressurise the government into signing the nuclear pact before his visit to the country, Madhav told newsmen.

(Central India News Service)