Mazari for permanent strategic dialogue between Pakistan, India

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Human Rights Dr Sheeren Mazari Wednesday underlined the need for holding a permanent strategic dialogue between Pakistan and India, which should not be affected with the change of governments in the two nuclear states.

Addressing a conference on “Nuclear Arms Control: Challenges and Prospects” organized by Strategic Studies Institute Islamabad (SSII) here, Minister said that an all-inclusive approach should be taken on Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and proposed the creation of a regional CTBT with P5 states joining it as guarantors.

The Minister suggested a protocol should be added to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) to recognize Pakistan and India as nuclear weapon states.

She also suggested multinational civil nuclear power plants and IAEA supervised fuel banks to further help diplomatic efforts towards peace and cooperation in the region.

Commenting on Pakistan’s membership in Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Dr Mazari said that Pakistan should adopt proactive diplomacy and expose India’s proliferation record.

She argued that Pakistan’s approach to nuclear arms control and disarmament has to be based on directly linking it to conventional forces reduction vis-a-vis India.

Federal Minister highlighted that Pakistan developed its tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) to ensure the credibility of its nuclear deterrence.

“We must build our tactical weapons and cruise missile to halt India’s military advancements and aggression”, she insisted.

Dr Mazari argued that there has never been any discussion on the nuclear program of Israel on any international forum which implied that NPT was designed to propagate the status quo regime. “Pakistan signing Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) would not be beneficial as this treaty has never been fully operationalized to judge its effectiveness”, she added.

She said, “We need more out of the box diplomacy Pakistan’s status as a nuclear state. Civil and Military leadership should take defense and foreign policy experts on board while making diplomatic decisions regarding nuclear energy”, she added.

During discussions on the achievements and shortcomings of the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the speakers in the conference agreed that although the CD was successful in bringing forward certain major instruments of arms control architecture, some treaties such as the NPT are inherently flawed and discriminatory.

It was highlighted during the conference that states should adhere to certain principles that will be useful towards the attainment of arms control and disarmament.

The participants agreed that the most important requisite for sustainable arms control architecture was that the states must retain the concept of strategic stability such as security interests of each state.

The event was attended by the large number of diplomats, officials, students and media representatives.