Daily Times

A senior Foreign Ministry official has said that non-proliferation politics dictates the agenda of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Director General of the Foreign Ministry’s Arms Control and Disarmament Division Kamran Akhtar, while speaking at a webinar hosted by Strategic Vision Institute (SVI), said, “NSG very much epitomises the politics of non-proliferation at the global level.”

The webinar titled ‘The Politics of NSG: The Current Dimensions’ was attended by leading experts and academics. Akhtar, while criticising NSG, said that though it was an export control regime that ought to have focused on developing common understanding or criteria on nuclear transfers, it is more often seen as according “precedence to the interests of the nuclear supplier states.”

Pakistan has applied for the member of NSG along with India. However, the requests from both the countries have been held up because of their non-NPT status and differences between members over the admission criteria.

Akhtar said Pakistan’s application for membership is better qualified than India, even going by the formula proposed by Amb Rafael Grossi in 2016 as it does not have a mix of safeguarded and unsafeguarded facilities and has been more forthcoming in accepting legally binding commitments.

Speaking about India, he said, “if there was an argument that mainstreaming of India would benefit the non-proliferation regime, the Indian behavior since joining Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) belies that argument”.

He suggested that Pakistan should further strengthen its exports control regime, improve nuclear safety and security, partake in nuclear commerce and engage in technical cooperation programs.

Former IAEA official Dr Tariq Rauf identified major problems and deficiencies in the export control regimes. He said the export control regimes do not adapt to the changing international situations and there is lack of universality and legitimacy in these regimes, besides having inconsistent internal implementation.

Former Permanent Representative to Conference on Disarmament and UN in Geneva, Amb Zamir Akram also noted that the working of NSG was driven by geopolitics.

He said Pakistan’s argument has always has been that there should be the equitable basis on which the membership should be accorded. Pakistan also has other options like cooperation with China in civilian uses of nuclear technology under the IAEA directions, he added.

President SVI Dr. Zafar Iqbal Cheema said NSG applications by India and Pakistan, since 2016, have become a very contentious issue within NSG as well as the outside politics which is related to it.