Islamabad:
Pakistan wants India to bring its entire civilian nuclear programme under the safeguards laid out by the International Atomic Energy Commission, the Director-General Disarmament at the Foreign Office said on Monday.
“It is incumbent on us to stand up for our own interest. We want an assurance that India’s whole three stage nuclear power programme would be under safeguards,” DG Disarmament at Foreign Office Kamran Akhtar was quoted as saying by Dawn.
Akhtar was speaking at a round-table discussion in Islamabad on Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT), organised to prepare for the upcoming Conference on Disarmament (CD).
The FMCT would put Pakistan at a permanent disadvantage and undermine its security interests, Akhtar added.
There is a fear that the reactors not mandated by the safeguards might be used clandestinely for plutonium production and the existing stockpiles might be diverted to a military programme at a subsequent stage, the DG said.
He further said, “Pakistan should not be asked to agree to something that is not in its strategic interest.”
“We have to factor into consideration possible actions by India that could undermine the credibility of our nuclear deterrence,” he added.