Pakistan may sign FMCT if exempted from NSG restrictions

Pakistan may sign the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) provided the United States and other nuclear powers supporting this global non-proliferation pact extend firm assurance that Islamabad will be treated at par with India for the civilian use of nuclear technology and is exempted from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) restrictions.
Pakistan has been facing immense US pressure since the last couple of years to sign the FMCT, the global pact meant to ban the production of fissile material used for making nuclear bombs. Islamabad in 2009 decided to block the start of negotiations on the vital treaty in the Conference on Disarmament (CD) as it is not only for the ban on the future production of the material used in making nuclear bombs but rather it favours a pact covering the existing stocks of fissile material in the possession of different nuclear states.
Pakistan’s position on the FMCT is also supported by other states including Iran, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia and Ukraine but it is Islamabad alone that has been vocal in putting forth the demand for a treaty covering the present fissile material stocks as well. Pakistan’s main concern as for the FMCT is its arch rival nuclear neighbour, India that possesses huge stocks of fissile material. Moreover, Pakistan also does not match India’s superiority in conventional weapons. With the US pushing hard for consensus on the commencement of negotiations on the FMCT during the forthcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) later this month in New York, Pakistan has come under immense pressure to extend its support to the vital pact and drop its opposition that would pave the way for its global approval. “Pakistan, however, feels that it must also be treated the way India is on the platform of NSG. The Indian nuclear programme is taking full advantage of the NSG decision that it made in 2008 under the US initiative to exempt New Delhi from the restrictions on the supply of nuclear fuel and equipment to non-NPT countries,” said a Pakistani diplomat.
He said Pakistan also wanted the US and other world powers to take Islamabad’s security concerns into consideration but instead of that Washington has been putting extreme pressure on Islamabad to drop its opposition to the FMCT. “The US has been exerting this pressure on Pakistan bilaterally and on multilateral forums as well and it will raise this issue again when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at the sidelines of the UNGA meeting in New York later this month,” the diplomat said. A US-based Pakistani diplomat said Washington also seemed willing to offer some concessions to Islamabad in case it supported the FMCT. “Pakistan’s unconditional support to the FMCT could pave the way for a possible visit of US President Barack Obama to Islamabad later this year,” he said. The US president’s visit to Islamabad was on the cards few months ago but it got derailed as a result of the eruption of row between Pakistan and the US in the wake of arrest of CIA operative Raymond Davis, who killed two Pakistanis in Lahore. The Pakistan-US relations got tensed further when al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was killed in a covert raid by American military in Abbottabad on May 2. “The US could also show flexibility in its stance over other conflicting issues with Pakistan such as drone strikes and row over American military trainers and CIA operatives in case it extended support to FMCT,” the official said.