Islamabad - Senior Pakistan People’s Party leader Senator Sherry Rehman yesterday said India’s out of turn inclusion in the Nuclear Suppliers Group will lead to an arms race in the region.
The PPP vice president said such a decision will also disrupt the balance of power. Sherry Rehman said efforts for India’s inclusion in the NSG not only defy the principles on which the group was formed, but will also significantly tilt the nuclear balance in the region, with serious implications for regional stability and security. Given the current Seoul summit of NSG members where a purported Indian membership has been tabled, Sherry Rehman said that balance was clearly the need of the hour at such key global forums.
“India’s out of turn inclusion in the NSG will disrupt the balance of power and lead to an unwanted arms race in the region. Efforts for India’s inclusion in the NSG not only defy the principles on which the group was formed, but will also significantly tilt the nuclear balance in the region, with serious implications for regional stability and security,” she said in a statement.
Senator Rehman said that if the purpose of India’s NSG membership is nuclear transfer for civilian use, then Pakistan’s energy needs are just as acute for it to be considered on equal grounds for membership in the group.
“When Pakistan’s nuclear command and control is quite satisfactory, as declared sound from 2012 onwards, particularly at the Nuclear Summit in Seoul,” Rehman questioned “why is Pakistan subject to different membership criteria,” she said.
The NSG membership is normally subject to a nuclear non-proliferation agreement on part of the member states, and nuclear states that are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty are restricted from the group.
“India has categorically refrained from signing the NPT. Any support for one country’s exceptional membership of the NSG is short-sighted, given the former’s non-NPT status,” the senator said, stressing that India has also not completely separated its civilian and nuclear reactors, indicating diversion of civilian nuclear material towards undetected military use.
She cited a report of the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard University which has noted that despite India’s announcement of a separation plan for its civilian and military nuclear programmes, there remain significant overlaps with little transparency to detect the diversion of nuclear material for military purposes.
The report also notes that “the overlap between civilian and military nuclear activities is likely to intensify as India scales up its nuclear power program and its enrichment and reprocessing industries.”
India’s arms build-up has also been steadily increasing over the years. “By all counts, Pakistan’s concerns about nuclear imbalance resulting from such measures have been confirmed, as recent studies indicate,” she maintained, adding that on the other hand, Pakistan is being asked by the US to limit its nuclear capability, particularly the Tactical Nuclear Weapon.
“Preferential treatment in NSG membership will add to Pakistan’s security concerns and accelerate an unwanted and dangerous arms race in the region,” she remarked.