New Delhi, March 5 :     The announcement by senior officials of the Clinton administration about India's commitment to 'adhere' to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) by September has evoked smiles rather than frowns from officials in South Block. 'Their remark only vindicates our position,' said a senior official in the Indian foreign office today, adding there was no contradiction between the two countries' position on the issue. US secretary of state Madeleine Albright told the US Senate last week that India and Pakistan had committed themselves to adhere to the CTBT by September. A similar statement was made yesterday by Karl Inderfurth, assistant secretary in the state department, while speaking before the House International Relations Committee's sub-committee on Asia and Pacific. Another reason for US officials to talk about the commitment given by India and Pakistan is perhaps to convince the domestic audience. The US has signed the treaty but its Senate is yet to ratify it. The reference to the two newest nuclear powers may, therefore, help the Clinton administration convince its detractors that the US has nothing to lose by ratifying the treaty. After Pokhran II last May, India placed a moratorium on further tests and expressed its desire to make the de facto position de jure - in other words, formalise its position. Last September, while addressing the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee further clarified India's position by saying it will not stand in the way of the CTBT coming into effect in September this year, provided, by then all other countries had signed and ratified it. As per the CTBT text, all the 44 nations - those who have a nuclear reactor - have to sign and ratify the treaty by September, when it comes up for review. This means that India, which is one of the 44 nations, will have to sign and ratify the treaty for it to come into effect. However, after the eighth round of talks between foreign minister Jaswant Singh and US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott last month, there were indications that New Delhi will sign the CTBT by the middle of the year. Such reports in the Indian media had put the BJP government in an embarrassing position, with the Opposition seeking a clarification from the Centre and the former hurriedly denying having given any such commitment. But India's stand on imposing a moratorium on further tests means that it is already following the CTBT guidelines. If it now signs and ratifies the treaty, it will also have to accept the international verification system to convince the world that it was not conducting any more tests. However, barring the United Kingdom and France, none of the other nuclear powers - Russia, US and China - have so far ratified the CTBT, though most of them have already signed it. If the US Senate does ratify the treaty, it does not, however, mean that India will immediately follow suit. Though Washington's decision to ratify will help most of the other countries to sign and ratify it, New Delhi may still wait till Beijing gives it the formal approval. India has made it clear that its security perception is not limited to South Asia, that is, it is not Pakistan-centric. Therefore, the Indian leadership may still ask for time to put its signature on the CTBT and ratify it till the Chinese leadership also does likewise.