![scuttling of arms trade treaty scuttling of arms trade treaty](https://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/415449-syriarebelgun-1343758833.jpg)
The treaty proposed at the CATT would have outlawed the sale of arms in case there was a good chance that they would land up in the hands of terrorists or regimes that violate international human rights standards. In theory, this sounds unobjectionable. But the truth is that all major powers in the world, despite their high-sounding rhetoric, actually rely on selling arms to dubious actors to sustain this multibillion dollar industry. China and Russia, for example, are currently arming the violent Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, while the US is the biggest supplier of arms to a host of unsavoury governments in the Middle East. This includes Israel, which is engaged in a brutal war against the Palestinian people, the Egyptian military currently undermining democracy in the country and a Bahraini monarchy at war with its majority Shia population.
Pakistan, too, would have been a beneficiary of a treaty regulating the global arms trade. We are currently engaged in a war with well-armed militants who receive their weaponry from wealthy individuals in the Arab states and from the international black market. A treaty that is strictly enforced would make it harder for such non-state actors to have easy access to conventional arms. At the CATT, money won out over common sense. After a short period of reflection, everyone needs to get back to the negotiating table and finally sign this treaty.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2012.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
wishful thinking author. Arms industry is the backbone of US economy....and it won't allow any hindrance to it's growth