ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday said that it was not bound by the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons and the concurrence does not form a part of conventional international law.
According to a statement issued by Foreign Office, the treaty, which was adopted in July 2017, was negotiated “outside the established UN disarmament negotiating forums”.
The statement further said, “None of the nuclear-armed states, including Pakistan, took part in the negotiations of the treaty which failed to take on board the legitimate interests of all the stakeholders.” Many non-nuclear states had also refrained from becoming parties to the pact, The FO noted.
The United Nations General Assembly, at its first special session devoted to nuclear disarmament in 1978, had agreed by consensus that in the adoption of disarmament measures, “the right of each state to security should be kept in mind, and at each stage of the disarmament process the objective would be undiminished security for all states at the lowest possible level of armaments and military forces,” it added.
“Pakistan believes that this cardinal objective can only be achieved as a cooperative and universally agreed undertaking, through a consensus-based process involving all the relevant stakeholders, which results in equal and undiminished security for all states,” the FO stressed.
The treaty seeks to prohibit the use, development, production, testing, stationing, stockpiling and the threat of nuclear weapons. It is indispensable for any initiative on nuclear disarmament to take into account the “vital security considerations” of every state, read the statement.
“Accordingly, Pakistan does not consider itself bound by any of the obligations enshrined in this agreement, Pakistan stresses that this treaty neither forms a part of nor contributes to the development of customary international law in any manner,” it said.
The nuclear weapons ban treaty had taken effect last Friday, but the milestone was marred by the lack of signatures from the world’s major nuclear powers. Despite the missing participants, the occasion was marked by praise from the United Nations and even Pope Francis.
By late October, 50 countries had ratified the treaty — originally adopted by 122 countries in the UN General Assembly in 2017 — allowing it to take effect last Friday, or 90 days from the 50th signature.
