Calling for the grant of NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) membership to Pakistan in accordance with a non-discriminatory and criteria-based approach, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry on Friday said that the Indo-US nuclear deal as well as discriminatory waiver granted to India had negatively impacted strategic stability in South Asia.
He was speaking at the launch of nuclear paper series by Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI). Dr Rizwana Abbasi, Assistant Professor, NDU; Dr Zafar Khan, Assistant Professor, NDU; Dr Naeem Salik, distinguished fellow, ISSI; Qasim Mustafa, senior research fellow, ISSI; Ghazala Yasmin, research fellow, ISSI and Tahir Mahmood Azad, research fellow, ISSI, presented their papers on the occasion.
"In order to ensure long-term peace, stability and prosperity in South Asia, it is essential for the world community to adopt an approach that is even-handed and criteria-based rather than driven by strategic and commercial considerations or political expediency," the Foreign Secretary said, adding that the apprehensions expressed by Pakistan and shared by objective analysts were turning out to be fully justified by subsequent developments.
He pointed out that the recent reports by NTI, ISIS and other assessments by international experts, corroborated that the NSG waiver had allowed India to exponentially increase its fissile material stocks with grave implication for strategic stability in the region.
Referring to energy requirements of the country, he said that in order to meet its exponentially increasing energy needs and to support sustained economic growth and industrial development in the years to come, civil nuclear power generation was an imperative necessity for Pakistan. "Our energy requirements are expected to grow by a factor of 7 over the next two decades. Hence, our national goal is to expand our nuclear energy capacity to 50,000 MW as envisaged by the Vision 2050," he said.
In order to meet this objective, he said Pakistan needed to be granted NSG membership in accordance with a non-discriminatory, uniform and criteria-based approach. Pakistan's membership would also be of immense benefit to NSG's credibility and effectiveness as a non-proliferation regime, he added.
"Our nuclear safety and security measures are in line with the best international standards and practices," he said, adding that over the past 15 years or so, Pakistan had taken a series of measures which included, establishment of a robust command and control system, an effective export control regime, and steps to improve nuclear security at all levels.
He said that Pakistan was also actively and constructively engaged with the international community including the IAEA, Nuclear Security Summit process and the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT). "Our strong credentials as a nuclear state qualify us for being mainstreamed in the global nuclear order. The global non-proliferation regime also stands to gain from our membership," he asserted.
The Foreign Secretary said that "we are a peace-loving nation that is compelled to acquire nuclear deterrence in the face of a grave threat that we could have ignored only at great peril to our national security and sovereignty." Pakistan's reluctant entry into the nuclear club was well documented, he said, adding that after 1974 when the first nuclear test was conducted in our neighbourhood, Pakistan made several proposals for keeping South Asia free of nuclear weapons and missiles.
These included simultaneous application of IAEA safeguards on all nuclear facilities and bilateral arrangement for their reciprocal inspections; simultaneous accession to the NPT; regional CTBT; Zero Missile Regime in South Asia; and signing of a Non-Aggression Pact, he added.
Unfortunately, he said none of these proposals met a favourable response. Neither did the wider international community intervened to assuage our security concerns, he added. "This left us with no option but to develop nuclear deterrence in the pursuit of undiminished and equal security which is a right enshrined in the final document of the UN General Assembly's First Special Session on Disarmament," he added.
In the wake of South Asia's overt nuclearization, Chaudhry said Pakistan had demonstrated its commitment to peace and stability in the region by putting forward the comprehensive strategic stability proposal, which was premised on three interlocking and mutually reinforcing elements of conflict resolution, nuclear and missile restraint and conventional balance.
"This proposal remains on the table. If pursued with sincerity, this proposal can lay the foundation of lasting peace and stability in the region," he added. As a nuclear state, he pointed out that Pakistan had always endeavoured to fulfil its international obligations. Despite not being a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, he said Pakistan had placed all civilian nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards with an impeccable and faithful compliance record. Pakistan had a four-decade long experience of safe and secure operation of nuclear power plants, he added.
"Pakistan's conduct as a nuclear weapon state will continue to be defined by restraint and responsibility. As we seek to ensure our national security, credible minimum deterrence remains our guiding principle," he added. He said Pakistan would also continue to pursue constructive engagement with the international community including the non-proliferation regimes as a confident and responsible nuclear state.
"Pakistan believes that the scarce resources of our region should be devoted to the socio-economic development of our people," he said, adding 'we need a willing and constructive partner to tackle myriads of daunting challenges that beset our region including disease, poverty, illiteracy, climate change and environmental degradation." He further said that a peaceful neighbourhood was the sine qua non to build prosperous societies.