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Chairperson,
As I take the floor for the first time in this Committee, on behalf of the Pakistan delegation, congratulations to you and members of the Bureau on the assumption of your offices. We are confident that with your experience and diplomatic skills, we will be able to achieve our objectives within the given time. I assure you of my delegation’s support and cooperation.
I would also like to welcome the new Acting High Representative and thank him for his statement.
Chairperson,
The contemporary global security architecture is fraying. Widespread hopes for “peace dividend” generated by the end of the Cold War are increasingly giving way to the advent of a new cold war.
The promise of a new century for peace, stability and prosperity appears to be fading in a world beset by conflict and destruction, among and within States.
Even as old disputes remain unresolved, new conflicts and tensions are emerging in the Euro-Atlantic area, the Middle East and elsewhere. South Asia is being prevented from pursuit of peace and development by a policy of hegemony and intransigence, encouraged by some powerful states from outside the region.
What is different today is that globalization has made every conflict and every catastrophe “international” in its impact and implications.
Perhaps the only bright spot in an otherwise turbulent international security environment is the recent nuclear agreement between Iran and P5+1. Pakistan considers this as a positive development and has welcomed it. This agreement demonstrates what diplomatic engagement and cooperative multilateralism can achieve. It augurs well for the peace and security of our region and beyond.
Chairperson,
The disarmament regime and architecture is not immune from this larger trend. There are clear differences of perspective, approaches and modalities to pursue an agreed agenda on disarmament and non-proliferation.
Progress on multilateral nuclear disarmament remains stalled. Some Nuclear Weapon States are neither willing to give up their large inventories of nuclear weapons nor their modernization programmes, even as they pursue non-proliferation with messianic zeal. The rhetoric of a world free of nuclear weapons does not match practical action on the ground.
And, some thirty non-nuclear-weapon States – members of nuclear-armed alliances – continue to rely robustly on nuclear weapons while advocating restraint by other States facing real security threats. As such these states indirectly and implicitly encourage the possession or even use of nuclear weapons as part of the strategic doctrines of their alliances.
The discriminatory nuclear cooperation agreements and waivers from long-held non-proliferation principles, coupled with growing transfers of conventional armaments, are eroding strategic stability and fueling instability in our region. The policy of dual standards towards South Asia, based on narrow security, political and commercial considerations, continues.
Alongside these existing challenges, new threats have arisen in areas such as hostile use of Outer Space, offensive cyber capabilities, development and use of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) and armed drones, as well as the development of advanced conventional hypersonic systems of global reach.
Chairperson,
Pakistan is a responsible nuclear power. Our nuclear policy is shaped by evolving security dynamics of South Asia. Our nuclear capability is geared towards assuring our security and self-defence.
Last month, the Prime Minister of Pakistan underscored at the General Assembly that” Pakistan neither wants to, nor is it engaged in, an arms race in South Asia. We cannot however remain oblivious to the evolving security dynamics and arms buildup in our region, which obliges us to take essential steps to maintain our security”. The Prime Minister further underscored, “South Asia needs strategic stability and this requires serious dialogue to achieve nuclear restraint, conventional balance and conflict resolution”. Naturally, these must be promoted on the basis of reciprocity and non-discrimination.
With Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Chair, Pakistan’s National Command Authority (NCA), our highest decision making body on strategic matters, met on 9 September and reviewed the fast paced strategic and conventional capabilities’ developments taking place in our neigbourhood and underscored that Pakistan will take all measures to safeguard its national security. In view of the growing conventional asymmetry, the NCA reiterated the national resolve to maintain “Full Spectrum Deterrence Capability” in line with the dictates of “Credible Minimum Deterrence” to deter all forms of aggression while adhering to the policy of avoiding an arms race.
It was also categorically stated that Pakistan will remain actively engaged with the international community on nuclear stability and security issues.
Chairperson,
Pakistan has consistently supported the goals of nuclear disarmament and a nuclear weapon free world. These objectives need to be pursued through the conclusion of a universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable nuclear weapons convention in the CD.
Pakistan supports this Committee’s resolutions 68/32 and 69/58 on “Follow-up to the 2013 High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on Nuclear Disarmament” in particular the call for urgent commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament for conclusion of a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons.
Chairperson,
In our view, progress towards nuclear disarmament is being delayed by diverting the Conference on Disarmament’s focus to partial non-proliferation measures like an FMCT. An FMCT that does not address the existing stockpiles of fissile materials would make no contribution towards nuclear disarmament.
The establishment of a Group of Governmental Experts on FMCT was an ill-conceived experiment which failed to produce any consensus recommendation worth any substance. Fundamental differences continue to exist on the very objectives and scope of the treaty. The GGE simply duplicated the CD’s work in a non-inclusive body, without bringing any added value to this issue. Pakistan does not favour a dilution of the CD’s role through UNGA led non-universal processes that are divisive and not agreed by consensus.
The discussion mandate assigned to the GGE could easily have been fulfilled in the CD. This fact was amply proved and demonstrated during the informal discussions on the issue of a ban on the production of fissile materials in the CD, held under the Schedule of Activities in 2014-2015. These informal discussions were substantive and held in a representative body with the participation of all stakeholders, thus having greater relevance and legitimacy.
Pakistan, therefore, is not in a position to accept any conclusion or recommendation produced by this GGE including the assertion that the report can form the basis for further consideration of the FMCT issue by the CD. The GGE did not function under a mandate of the CD. The GGE members, individually or collectively, cannot arrogate to themselves the right to decide how the CD should consider the issue of fissile material.
We need to evolve a consensus based mandate for commencement of negotiations on a Fissile Material Treaty (FMT) in the CD. Such a mandate should respond to the call of the vast majority of the CD members to negotiate a treaty that genuinely advances nuclear disarmament and contributes to regional and international stability and security and– purposes not served by the Shannon mandate. Pakistan has presented a working paper in the CD that reflects the required balance between disarmament and non-proliferation goals of such a treaty.
Chairperson,
The international consensus that the General Assembly reached thirty seven years ago to pursue the disarmament agenda has eroded. The failure of this year’s NPT Review Conference and the continued deadlock in the CD on all its core issues are illustrative of this negative trend.
The existing and emerging challenges to arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament need to be addressed collectively on the basis of cooperative multilateralism. Pakistan, therefore, has consistently called for evolving a renewed global consensus on disarmament and non-proliferation in all its aspects. We recognize that consensus building will not be an easy task, but as a first step, the fundamental prerequisites for global security need to be ascertained, which are:
Chairperson,
Pakistan considers itself a mainstream partner in the international non-proliferation regime as well as the global efforts to strengthen nuclear security and safety. We have instituted a stringent national export control system and a robust nuclear security regime that are at par with international standards and practices.
Safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear energy, without discrimination, is essential for economic development. Pakistan meets the criteria for gaining full access to civil nuclear technology to meet its growing energy needs and for continued economic growth. Through a series of actions in diverse areas, we have demonstrated our credentials to join the multilateral export control regime, including the Nuclear Suppliers Group and Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). In this context, Pakistan’s National Command Authority in its last meeting expressed satisfaction with our enhanced outreach with multilateral export control regimes and renewed our interest in joining these regimes on a non-discriminatory basis.
At the end, I would like to reiterate our support for the long-standing call of NAM countries, which comprise almost two-thirds of the UN membership, to convene the Fourth Special Session on Disarmament (SSOD-IV) for revival of eroding global consensus on disarmament and non-proliferation in an integrated, balanced and non-discriminatory manner.
Full text of the statement may be included in the official records.
I thank you, Chairperson.