“The United States (US)’s nuclear deal with India has affected the strategic stability that existed in South Asia before the deal. Maintaining the balance was necessary for peace in South Asia,” said Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, who is leading the Pakistani team at the US-Pakistan talks on security, strategic stability and non-proliferation which began in Washington on Tuesday.
“This will be our main line in these talks. The perception of the threat from India was the only rationale for Pakistan’s nuclear programme. This is a weapon of deterrence, not for actual use,” the foreign secretary told a news conference at the Pakistan Embassy.
The secretary, however, noted that the US-India nuclear deal, signed in 2006, had “affected strategic stability which existed before that.”
Chaudhry pointed out that in a joint statement issued after the nuclear confidence-building talks in January 2004, both India and Pakistan had recognised this as “a factor of strategic stability” in the region. “Any discriminatory treatment is not good for strategic stability and this has been our consistent line: create a level playing field,” he added.
“We have come a long way in establishing strong export controls against any proliferation of nuclear materials. And our export control lists have been harmonised with the multilateral export regime,” he said.
Chaudhry said that nuclear safety was another strong area where Pakistan had made a considerable progress. “We have more than four decades of experience in power generation and our nuclear facilities have been completely safe,” he said, adding that there was now an international recognition of Pakistan’s strong credentials.
Tuesday’s talks will cover “a whole range of issues” relating to strategic stability in South Asia, including non-proliferation, civil nuclear cooperation, and other areas of nuclear safety, security and strategic stability, he said.
