ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday said it did not consider itself bound by any of the obligations enshrined in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), adopted in July 2017, as it was negotiated outside the established United Nations disarmament negotiating forums.
“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 armed states have also refrained from becoming Parties to the Treaty,” Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement issued in the federal capital.
According to the statement, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), in 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. The agreement had also concurred that, 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.
“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. It is indispensable for any initiative on nuclear disarmament to take into account the vital security considerations of each and every State,” it added.
“Pakistan stresses that this Treaty neither forms a part of, nor contributes to the development of customary international law in any manner,” the statement concluded.
The TPNW, also known as the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty, was the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination.
It was adopted on 7 July 2017, opened for signature on 20 September 2017 and entered into force on 22 January 2021.
The treaty prohibits the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities.
In regard to those states which join the treaty after having already become nuclearly-armed, the TPNW provides for a time-bound framework for negotiations leading to the verified and irreversible elimination of its nuclear weapons programme.
There are currently 86 signatories and 52 states parties, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), including Ireland, Austria, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa and Thailand.
