Pakistan to maintain minimum nuclear deterrence

Pakistan has said that it would maintain minimum nuclear deterrence to ensure strategic stability in South Asia, said Pakistan Prime Minister’s advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz. Pakistan has been facing increasing international pressure to slow down its atomic programme.

During a seminar on ‘Pakistan’s Non-proliferation Efforts and Strategic Export Controls’ hosted by the Institute of Strategic Studies, Mr Aziz said that South Asia’s strategic stability has been negatively impacted by the policies that override long established principles and norms. He said that they are guided by individual states’ strategic and commercial considerations.

Citing India’s example, Mr Aziz asked, “A case in point is the Indo—US civil nuclear deal and the subsequent discriminatory waiver granted to India by the NSG. Eight years down the road, one wonders what benefit the non-proliferation regime has secured from the deal?” Stressing on the recent reports by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), Institute of Security and International Studies (ISIS), and assessment by other experts, Mr Aziz said that they corroborate that the NSG waiver has allowed India to exponentially increase its fissile material stocks with grave implications for the strategic stability of the region.

“As we seek to ensure our security, credible minimum deterrence remains our guiding principle and our conduct will continue to be defined by restraint and responsibility”, Mr Aziz said.

“Pakistan is a peace loving country but it was compelled to get nuclear deterrence in the face of growing threat to its security and integrity after Indian nuclear tests”, Mr Aziz emphasised. Insisting that Pakistan has strong credentials to become a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and other multilateral export control regimes on non-discriminatory basis, Mr Aziz said that the policy of nuclear mainstreaming of any state should be based on uniform criteria rather than a country-specific approach.

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