WASHINGTON, April 9: The United States will continue to press India for a definition of its policy of minimum nuclear deterrence despite New Delhi’s refusal to do so, a State Department official told Dawn. “We believe the Indians need to further define this concept and we will continue to ask them to do so,” the official said while commenting on the Indian position on the issue.

On Saturday, India rejected US suggestion that it define its credible minimum nuclear deterrent, saying that it had no obligation to do so. “What our credible minimum deterrent would be is really for India to decide,” Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said.

He said: “Certainly there is no responsibility on part of India to declare what its minimum deterrent is.” He said that New Delhi had on various occasions pointed this out to the US.

Mr Saran, who met Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher on Friday, said the US official had not raised the issue with him. “We have a strategic dialogue with the US where we have agreed to exchange views on our respective nuclear doctrines as well as issues like missile defence,” he said.

But the State Department official said the demand for defining India’s nuclear weapons policy had been a part of the ongoing nuclear debate between the two countries.

The Indian refusal comes a day before an eight-member US congressional delegation, led by Republican House leader Dennis Hastert, leaves for New Delhi. The delegation will discuss the recent Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement and look into the transformed relations between the two countries.