Un conference on disarmament : Pakistan threatens to boycott deal

Conference’s dysfunction was lack of political will by some nuclear-armed states, Acting Pakistani UN Ambassador

NEW YORK: Reaffirming its opposition to a US-backed treaty to ban production of fissile material used as fuel for nuclear weapons, Pakistan warned it would boycott any process to negotiate the treaty outside the deadlocked UN Conference on Disarmament, which is the sole negotiating forum for multilateral disarmament. Speaking in the UN General Assembly, Acting Pakistani Ambassador Raza Bashir Tarar struck a note of caution against taking negotiations for the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty outside the 65-member Conference. He said that the discriminatory policies pursued by some major powers have created insecurities. He said the real reason for the conference’s dysfunction was lack of political will by some nuclear-armed states to negotiate in a fair and balanced way.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th,  2011.