Nuke talk: Pakistan is being ‘discriminated’ against

Speakers highlight the negative attitude of the international community towards Pakistan’s status as a nuclear...

ISLAMABAD:

The two South Asian nuclear states need to diffuse tensions for smoother relations, said former ambassador Tariq Osman Hyder on Saturday. He added there should not be an arms race in the region.

He was speaking at a seminar on “The Discriminatory Approach Towards Nuclear Proliferation: Fallout for Pakistan”, organised by Strategic Technology Resources (STR), a research institute.

The former ambassador also analysed the US’s discriminatory role towards Pakistan.

STR Chief Executive Officer Dr Shireen Mazari said the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signifies the discriminatory attitude of the US and its allies. Criticising America for their propaganda against Pakistan’s nukes, she said the national nuclear establishment is very strong.

Pakistan has no objection over India’s membership in the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), Australia Group, (AG) or the Wassenaar Arrangement but the criteria should not be discriminatory such as NPT’s Article VI, she added.

She explained this particular article’s claim to disarming the five nuclear states is merely a “good faith” demand. It is unlike the restrictions posed on non-nuclear states regarding the import of uranium or dual use technology, she said.

Speaking on Pakistan’s exclusion from NSG, she said the fallout for Pakistan is grave on all counts especially since India has been given access to state-of-the-art nuclear and dual use technologies by the group.

This will bolster India’s nuclear weapons development while Pakistan would be continuously denied access and penalised if caught developing similar technologies.

NSG’s membership will also allow India to be part of a supplier cartel that works on the unanimity principle. Hence India can put impediments even if other NSG members decide to issue waivers in favour of Pakistan, she added.

There is also a Strategic Export Control Division at Pakistan’s Foreign Office and an Oversight Board for this division’s functioning. Yet all these efforts are sidelines by the international community in their “passion” for labelling Pakistan as a dangerous nuclear state, she said.



Published in The Express Tribune, May 29^th, 2011.