Pakistan has warned the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) against imposing ‘technological apartheid’ on Pakistan and urged fair and simultaneous consideration of the country’s application for the membership of the group along with the Indian claim.
“Pakistan wants simultaneous entry into the NSG with other non-NPT states that aspire to participate in the group. This would require a fair and simultaneous consideration of the two membership applications submitted by the non-NPT states,” SPD Director Zahir Kazmi said the other day while speaking at the Centre for International Strategic Studies.
Zahir’s comments came a day before the NSG, at its meeting in Seoul, South Korea, begins considering membership applications particularly those of India and Pakistan.
Speaking about Pakistan’s credentials for the membership, he said his country met the criteria except for NPT requirement, which India too did not fulfil.
“Pakistan’s application stands on solid grounds of technical experience, capability and well-established commitment to nuclear safety and security. We have a complete programme for harnessing peaceful uses of nuclear energy and have operated secure and safeguarded power plants for 42 years,” Kazmi maintained.
Reminding that the waiver given by the NSG to India affected the strategic stability of South Asia, he worried that an exception for Delhi would further aggravate that balance.
Unlike Pakistan, India’s candidature is being pushed by the Western countries. Pakistan hopes that the NSG adopts a non-discriminatory approach on the issue of admitting non-NPT states.
Pakistan’s key ally China and a few other states have called for deliberations on the accession of non-NPT countries and adopting a uniform standard on the issue. Based on the sense emerging from the consultative meeting held in Vienna on June 9, it is assumed that consensus on new memberships is unlikely.
