Ambassador Maleeha urges discriminatory waivers to India is another challenge to non-proliferation norms, rules
Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi has called for the Nuclear Suppliers Group to establish and adhere to more objective and non-discriminatory criteria to ensure equal treatment of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) applicants for the Group’s membership.
Earlier Pakistan’s Foreign Office argued that, Nuclear Suppliers Group should create a transparent, objective, non-discriminatory and criteria based approach for simultaneous membership of the applicants.
Taking part in a debate in the UN Security Council, Pakistan’s ambassador to UN claimed such compensations allowed the possibility of diverting material intended for peaceful uses to military purposes which increased proliferation risks.
Maleeha Lodhi noted that such special arrangements carried obvious proliferation risks and opened up the possibility of diverting material intended for peaceful uses to military purposes.
Speaking on the occasion, the United Nations disarmament Chief Izumi Nakamitsu called for stronger international cooperation to prevent terrorists from accessing and using weapons of mass destruction.
Besides Maleeha Lodhi , Pakistan’s Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria discussed the implications of the nuclear trade waiver granted to India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group and said that such “preferential treatments” and waivers only undermine the credibility of the global non-proliferation regime besides disturbing the regional strategic stability.
Zakaria said that since it was granted the waiver in 2008, India has expanded its capacity to produce fissile material for military use, moving against the objective of strategic stability in the region.
“Pakistan does not believe in arms race in the region and has consistently maintained that the two neighbouring countries should agree on meaningful measures to avoid nuclear arms race,” Zakaria said.
Foreign Office Spokesperson further said that, “Pakistan has unilaterally adhered to global energy guidelines and non-proliferation benchmarks in order to maintain best practices in supply of controlled items, goods, materials and services.”