Pakistan needs more nukes: gov't spokesman

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ISLAMABAD, Feb. 22 Kyodo -
Pakistan's reliance on nuclear weapons as a deterrence against India is growing
as the gulf in the two countries' defense capabilities widens, so much so that
it would not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty even if India were to do
so, according to a government spokesman.
''We cannot sign the treaty. We cannot give up nuclear weapons,'' Foreign
Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said in an interview with Kyodo News over the
weekend.
''If you have a conventional imbalance between Pakistan and India, then
obviously our reliance on nuclear deterrence increases correspondingly,'' Basit
said.
His remarks about Pakistan's growing appetite for nuclear weapons come ahead of
the 2010 NPT Review Conference in May, which will take stock of developments on
the proliferation front and deliberate over the prospects of cutting down the
number of nuclear weapons worldwide.
Although the conference is held every five years, the next one has assumed
great importance in light of the priority pinned by U.S. President Barack Obama
on disarmament and his call for a world free of nuclear weapons.
Basit noted that the NPT Review Conference will be preceded by a Global Nuclear
Security Summit called by Obama in March in which Pakistani President Asif
Zardari has been invited to participate.
He blamed countries championing nonproliferation and disarmament for
destabilizing the security environment in South Asia, which he said has forced
Pakistan to increase its reliance on the nuclear deterrence against India.
The spokesman revealed that Pakistan has abandoned its historic position that
it would sign the NPT if India would do likewise.
''At one point in time, we were ready to sign the treaty, provided it was also
done by India,'' Basit said, ''That is the position that we took, but it has
become outdated.''
Pakistan had maintained since 1967 when the NPT came into force that it would
sign only if India would too -- a position it adhered to even after its 1998
nuclear tests. It had also said it would sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
if India would also do so.
Asked to spell out the new terms under which Pakistan would join the NPT, Basit
made clear it would only do so as a recognized nuclear weapon state, something
that would require an amendment to the treaty as it currently limits possession
of nuclear weapons to the five states that hold permanent seats on the U.N.
Security Council -- the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China.
''It is not for me to say when and how Pakistan will join...It is for NPT
states to decide. So let the review conference take place and we will see its
outcome,'' he said.
Basit identified the 2008 U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement and
Western countries' sale of military equipment to India as key factors that have
rocked the balance between Pakistan and India in the conventional and
non-conventional fields.
Basit said that by concluding such agreements with India on the supply of
nuclear technology, Western countries have effectively given it carte blanche
to pursue its nuclear militarization program, something that worries Pakistan.
He said countries like United States, Britain, France and Russia are
championing nonproliferation while at the same time supplying nuclear power
plants and nuclear fuel that would augment India's stock of fissile material.
''This would place India in a very advantageous position and put Pakistan in a
permanent position of disadvantage. Such policies do not really help the cause
of nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament,'' the spokesman said.
''I think a time has come for these countries to retrospect and reflect on
their own policies that have destabilized South Asia. So blaming Pakistan or
pointing finger at Pakistan would not help. The issue is very complex and some
of the major countries have also contributed in the destabilization of the
situation in our region through their policies,'' he said.
''There is hardly anything left for Pakistan to be more responsive to whatever
Japan and other countries say to Pakistan in the context of nuclear
proliferation,'' he said.
Basit castigated the Nuclear Suppliers Group for undermining its own charter by
giving an exemption to India, enabling it to sign contracts for nuclear
technology.
India, since its nuclear weapons tests in the mid-1970s, had previously been
subjected to restrictions preventing members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group,
such as the United States, from sending it nuclear fuels or investing in its
civil nuclear industry.
The spokesman's remarks demonstrated a hardening of Pakistan's position on
nuclear-related treaties because of widening gap between Pakistan and India in
the nuclear and conventional fields.
Pakistan has also blocked progress on the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty at the
Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.
It says it only seeks a ban on the future production of fissile material and is
not bothered with the existing nuclear devices and fissile material stocked by
the states with nuclear weapons.
Basit denied Pakistan is getting isolated at the conference owing to its
position on the FMCT, but added, ''Even if we are isolated, that does not
bother us much because our legitimate security interests are supreme and we
cannot allow our legitimate security interests to be compromised.''
Asked about the U.S. response to Pakistan's complaints it has been
discriminated in respect of the supply of nuclear technology, Basit said the
Americans have lately begun showing some understanding for Pakistan's concerns.
He also hoped that other countries providing nuclear technology and
conventional defense equipment to India would grasp the realities in the
region.
==Kyodo