ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has expressed concern that Canada’s $1.9 billion uranium supply deal with India could free up New Delhi’s domestic reserves for military use, accelerating its nuclear arsenal and deepening South Asia’s strategic imbalance,
In response to media queries regarding the conclusion of the agreement between India and Canada on supply of uranium and cooperation in nuclear reactor technology, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said “This arrangement represents yet another country-specific exception in the field of civil nuclear cooperation. It is particularly ironic given that India’s 1974 nuclear test, conducted using plutonium produced in a reactor supplied by Canada for peaceful purposes, had led directly to the establishment of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). A state whose actions necessitated the establishment of global export controls is now being granted preferential access under selective arrangements.”
The spokesperson further said that India had neither placed all its civilian nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards nor undertaken any binding commitment to do so under this arrangement, adding that several facilities remained outside international inspection.
He said “It is also unclear what concrete non-proliferation assurances, if any, accompany this agreement.”
Tahir Andrabi said that the strategic consequences (of Canada-India deal) were equally troubling, assured external uranium supplies effectively release India’s domestic reserves for military use, enabling the expansion of its fissile material stockpiles, accelerating the growth of its nuclear arsenal, and deepening existing asymmetries in South Asia’s strategic balance. “In this context, the arrangement also undermines Canada’s commitment to the international non-proliferation regime and its corresponding obligations under that framework,” he said.
“Pakistan reiterates that civil nuclear cooperation must be governed by a non-discriminatory, criteria-based approach applicable equally to states that are not parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Selective exceptions diminish the credibility of the global non-proliferation framework and risk further destabilizing regional and global peace & security,” the spokesperson added.
