India is seeking membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 48-nation body established 40 years ago to ensure that civilian trade in nuclear materials is not diverted for military purposes, as was done by India itself. Membership would greatly enhance the acceptance of India as a nuclear weapons state and give it a say in how countries trade in nuclear-related exports.

The application, which was discussed at a meeting in Buenos Aires last month, should not be granted until India proves itself willing to take a leading role in halting the spread of the world’s most lethal weapons. One way to do that would be by opening negotiations with Pakistan and China to end the dangerous regional nuclear arms race.

India has long sought to carve out a special exception for itself in the nuclear sphere. For many years, the country was barred from nuclear trade by the United States and other major states after it tested its first nuclear weapon in 1974 with materials and equipment acquired from Canada and the United States, ostensibly for peaceful purposes, and tested again in 1998. It has refused to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which commits all states (except the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China) to forsake nuclear weapons.

That situation started to change in 2008 when the United States signed a civilian nuclear trade deal with India, a rising economic power with a huge need for energy.