ISLAMABAD, August 7: Pakistan is committed to the goal of a nuclear weapons-free world through the conclusion of a universal, verifiable and non-discriminatory, comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons, the Foreign Office said in a statement on Monday.
In a press statement on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty), the Foreign Office said the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament (CD), the world’s single multilateral disarmament negotiating body, remains the most ideal forum for concluding such a convention.
The United Nations General Assembly, at its first special session devoted to nuclear disarmament in 1978, had agreed by consensus that in the adoption of disarmament measures, the right of each state to security should be kept in mind, and at each stage of the disarmament process the objective would be undiminished security for all states at the lowest possible level of armaments and military forces, the FO statement said.
Pakistan believes that this cardinal objective can only be achieved as a cooperative and universally agreed undertaking, through a consensus-based process involving all the relevant stakeholders, which results in equal and undiminished, if not increased security for all states. It is indispensable for any initiative on nuclear disarmament to take into account the vital security considerations of each and every state, the statement read.
According to the statement, the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted by a vote on July 7, 2017 in New York, did not fulfill these essential conditions – both in terms of process and substance.
Treaties that do not fully take on board the interests of all stakeholders fail to achieve their objectives. Pakistan, therefore, like all the other nuclear armed states, did not take part in its negotiation and cannot become a party to this Treaty, the FO statement said.
The statement added that Pakistan does not consider itself bound by any of the obligations enshrined in this Treaty. Pakistan stresses that this Treaty neither forms a part of, nor contributes to the development of customary international law in any manner. – Agencies
