ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan has said that it is committed to the goal of a nuclear weapons free world through the conclusion of a universal, verifiable and non-discriminatory, comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons.
In a Press Statement on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty) issued on Monday, the Foreign Office said that the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament (CD), the world’s single multilateral disarmament negotiating body, remains the most ideal forum for concluding such a convention.
The Foreign Office said that the United Nations General Assembly, at its first special session devoted to nuclear disarmament in 1978, had agreed by consensus that in the adoption of disarmament measures, the right of each State to security should be kept in mind, and at each stage of the disarmament process the objective would be undiminished security for all States at the lowest possible level of armaments and military forces.
It said that Pakistan believes that this cardinal objective can only be achieved as a cooperative and universally agreed undertaking through a consensus-based process involving all the relevant stakeholders which results in equal and undiminished if not increased security for all States. It is indispensable for any initiative on nuclear disarmament to take into account the vital security considerations of each and every State, it added.
The Foreign Office said that the Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, adopted by a vote on July 7, 2017 in New York, did not fulfill these essential conditions – both in terms of process and substance.
The Foreign Office said that treaties that do not fully take on board the interests of all stakeholders fail to achieve their objectives. Pakistan, therefore, like all the other nuclear armed states, did not take part in its negotiation and cannot become a party to this Treaty.
“Pakistan does not consider itself bound by any of the obligations enshrined in this Treaty,” it said adding that Pakistan stresses that this Treaty neither forms a part of, nor contributes to the development of customary international law in any manner.
In addition, it said that Pakistan reaffirms its commitment to nuclear disarmament in a way that promotes peace, security and stability at the regional and global levels.
