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Mr. Chairman,
The current First Committee session coincides with positive signs in the international milieu. While renewed focus on nuclear disarmament is encouraging, it is self evident that conditions conducive to attainment of the cherished goal of “Global Zero”, cannot be created without addressing conventional asymmetries. This, cannot come about if calls for disarmament mask a perpetual build up of conventional arms and armed forces.
Global military expenditure, dubbed a colossal waste by SSOD-I stands at a staggering 1465 billion dollars today. This travesty is rendered all the more poignant by the fact that the rich and powerful countries of the world are not willing to match their rhetoric with action by putting together a modest 150 billion dollars to meet the much vaunted Millennium Development Goals which have become a slogan that rises and founders on the rocks of UN conference rooms.
There is no denying the urgent need to address the challenge of illicit trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW). However, the SALW debate should not divert attention from the lucrative trade in combat aircraft, aircraft carriers, airborne and early warning and control systems, missile defense, nuclear submarines and warships etc as well as related technologies. By subverting regional stability to commercial considerations, such dealings disturb regional balance and stability, contributing to further discord.
Imbalance and tension create ideal marketing conditions for sale of advanced weaponries. The global arms trade not only consumes resources that should be devoted to development but creates a perennial cycle of an arms race.
This state of affairs imparts a legal and moral imperativeness to promoting conventional arms control, at the lowest possible levels of armaments and military forces, as sine qua non for an enabling environment for resolution of outstanding disputes, thereby leading to regional and international peace and security.
Mr. Chairman,
The epoch making SSOD-I spelt out the prescription for nuclear disarmament negotiations to be accompanied by internationally negotiated balanced reduction of armed forces as well as conventional armaments. Such a process should be founded on the principles of equal and undiminished security for all states as well as promotion or enhancement of stability at a lower military level. It is Pakistan’s conviction that for conventional arms control to succeed, it should be pursued on regional and sub-regional bases. Disputes and conflicts between States in the same regions or sub-regions generate most threats to peace and security. At the risk of stating the obvious, allow me to stress that the major onus in this regard falls on the militarily significant States.
Egregious accumulation of conventional weapons, rooted in uncontrolled, commercially motivated transfers is a bane of regional and global peace and stability. Conventional arms control should diminish insecurity by promoting balance especially in former and possible theaters of conflict.
Mr. Chairman,
Greater transparency can greatly aid conventional arms control. The Conventional Arms Register should be used not only for reporting but also as means to develop global norms related to transparency in armaments. Data distilled from these instruments by the Office for Disarmament Affairs (ODA) can serve as a meaningful early-warning mechanism in regard to conflict prevention and rationalization of arms acquisitions.
As the sole multilateral disarmament negotiating forum, the Conference on Disarmament should give serious thought to formulating principles governing frameworks for regional conventional arms control agreements.
Disproportionate increase in the volume and sophistication of weaponry mars strategic stability especially in tense regions. Such imbalances compel reliance on nuclear deterrence for its equalizer potential.
Mr. Chairman,
Pakistan’s earnestness in promoting regional stability is evidenced by its pursuit, with India, of a Strategic Restraint Regime comprising conflict resolution, nuclear and missile restraint and conventional balance. Creation of conventional balance at the lowest possible armament level will strengthen the dialogue process which would yield resolution of outstanding issues leading to strategic stability. In the interest of peace and security in South Asia, extra-regional players must recognize the imperativeness of balanced policies.
In line with our well known position on the issue of conventional arms control at the regional and sub-regional level; regional approaches to disarmament; and confidence building measures, at the regional and sub-regional level, like previous years, our delegation has, in addition to a resolution on negative security assurances, tabled three draft resolutions on these subjects. We thank the co-sponsors of the resolutions and would like to point out that all four resolutions remain open to further co-sponsorships.
Mr. Chairman,
We are of the view that the CCW and its five protocols adequately address humanitarian aspects of mines. While noting the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), we believe that as an extra-UN mechanism, CCM should supplement and not supplant the CCW process.
We have participated wholeheartedly and constructively in the process to examine the feasibility of an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and to establish its parameters and scope. We are convinced that any proposal with regard to conventional arms trade has to take into account the right of all States to manufacture, import, export, transfer and retain conventional arms for self-defence and security. The destabilizing impact of conventional arms can not be mitigated by mere regulation of arms transfer and trade. There are larger questions about arms production, deployment as well as motivations for their transfers and sales. Leap-frogging from the Open Ended Working Group to an international conference is not likely to serve the purpose of international peace. We should not disregard the fact that the GGE Report from which this process flows, recommended a balanced, open, transparent, step-by-step and consensual approach.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.