While Pakistan is being accused in the western media as the only obstructionist country in the initiation of negotiation on the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), other countries also have concealed reservations on the arrangement, but that they are happy to remain under the shadow of Pakistan.
These were the views expressed by Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal during a roundtable organised by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) on ‘FMCT: Pakistan’s Stand and Implications’ on Thursday. Jaspal said Pakistan would not compromise on its stance on the (FMCT), at least in the near future.
With the issue of FMCT being discussed during the ongoing session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, the roundtable brought forth some key issues concerning Pakistan’s position on the treaty in a timely manner. Jaspal, who was the main speaker of the event, rejected the claims made in the western media that Pakistan was the only country obstructing talks on the FMCT, other countries. Further explaining Pakistan’s principled position on FMCT, he argued that Pakistan did not view FMCT – or arms control for that matter – in isolation of disarmament, which actually was the mandate of the Conference on Disarmament.
He asserted that by calling for a ban on production of fissile material while not taking into account the reduction in the existing stockpiles of nuclear weapons, the FMCT was “freezing the existing nuclear asymmetry between India and Pakistan.”
Jaspal disagreed with the notion that nuclear weapons are only a deterrent and unusable in an actual war situation. He called nuclear weapons an extension of the conventional weapons and, therefore, argued that any arms control efforts aimed at neutralising nuclear weapons should also take into account the existing conventional military balance as well.
“Conventional and nuclear asymmetries are similar in nature,” said Jaspal. In this context, he maintained that the FMCT had not taken into account the strategic environment of South Asia, which was characterised by both nuclear and conventional strategic lop-sidedness between India and Pakistan. Jaspal pointed out that the renewed enthusiasm about the FMCT was a result of the personal initiative of President Obama – highlighted in his famous Prague speech of April 2009 – but it could die down once his term would end in November 2012.
Former ambassador Khalid Mahmood was of the opinion that acceptance of being part of the negotiations leading to the FMCT would not necessarily bind Pakistan to be part of the treaty as well.
Some other participants of the discussion disagreed and said the agenda of FMCT – calling for verifiable end of the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons- was already set, and as long as it was not changed to include both arms control and disarmament, Pakistan should not become a part of the negotiation exercise on the FMCT.
They criticised the treaty as Pakistan-specific while some of the participants said it was ‘impossible’ for the country to accept it.
