Pakistan blocks nuke talks over support for India

Protesting against the Nuclear Suppliers Group waiver to India, Pakistan today blocked negotiations on Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), describing the move as "discriminatory" that will help New Delhi stockpile bomb- making nuclear materials.

Speaking at the the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Pakistan's Ambassador Zamir Akram said the "discriminatory waiver" provided by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will help India to stockpile bomb-making nuclear(fissile) materials. The NSG waiver, Akram said, "will further accentuate the asymmetry in fissile materials stockpiles in the region, to the detriment of Pakistan's security interests."

For the last two years, Pakistan nearly blocked any progress in the FMCT negotiations. It maintained that "selective and discriminatory action of certain states in violation of their own national and international commitments, in pursuit of profit" has tilted the nuclear balance in favour of India. Without naming the United States, Pakistan's envoy said "one of the major powers has gone a step further by announcing its intention in November 2010 to support our neighbour's full membership in the four multilateral control regimes -- the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.Clearly this irresponsible undertaking raises several issues," said Akram, pointing how major nuclear powers have undermined the nuclear-Non Proliferation Agreement to accommodate India.

Akram had told reporters last week that Islamabad will not accept the nuclear Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) in its current form as it would enable India to increase its nuclear warheads at a rate of 40 per year following the waiver granted to New Delhi by the United States and other western countries.

Over the last 10 years, the Conference on Disarmament (CD) is nearly paralysed as

it is unable to negotiate any major nuclear arms treaty. Pakistan has blocked negotiations on arriving at a verifiable FMCT on the ground that it would not address the issue of current bomb making nuclear stocks possessed by India and other countries. "Our opposition to the FMCT is due to the asymmetry in the current proposal," Ambassador Akram told reporters, suggesting that it would enable India to divert its current stock of nuclear fissile material towards military use.

"This asymmetry is further worsened following the civilian nuclear agreement signed by India, the United States, and IAEA, as it would enable India to increase the number of warheads to 40 per year in which civilian nuclear fuel could be used for military purposes as India did in the past from the Tarapore reactor," he told reporters. US President Barak Obama's recent visit to India has added a new dimension to FMCT as India will now be allowed to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) and other international arrangements, Akram said.
"It is ironic that the Nuclear Suppliers Group was created after India's first nuclear test in 1974," said Ambassador Akram, suggesting that India would now be facilitated to become a member in these special arrangements without having to join the NPT (non-nuclear proliferation treaty).
When asked whether Pakistan is "tainted" by it's A Q Khan who was allegedly responsible for illegal transfer of nuclear material to Libya and Iran and whether it would not be admitted to these arrangements despite being close to Washington, Ambassador Akram said "we are tainted because we are seen close to China."
He said Pakistan is continuing to build two small reactors with the technical assistance from China and will also pursue "credible deterrence" policy that will not "match India missile to missile or war head to war head."