No-first-use on nukes--Pakistan leader
Seeks South Asia-wide non-nuclear treaty
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 16:39:00 11/23/2008
Filed Under: Nuclear Policies, Diplomacy
NEW DELHI, India--Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said he was in favour of a no-first-use policy on nuclear weapons, a stance already announced by neighboring India.
"Most definitely," Zardari said Saturday evening via videolink from his home in Pakistan, when asked whether his country would pledge not to use a nuclear weapon first.
"I am against nuclear warfare altogether."
Zardari also said India and Pakistan should work on a region-specific treaty on nuclear use.
"Let's sign a South Asia non-nuclear treaty and I can say this with full confidence -- that I'm sure I can get my parliament to agree upon that. Can you say the same?"
The two neighbors have taken some steps to reduce the risks of the arsenals -- including setting up a telephone hotline aimed at preventing an accidental conflict.
In October 2005, the two agreed to notify one another in advance on ballistic missile tests.
And since 1992 the two nations have been handing over details of their atomic facilities each year as part of an agreement concluded four years earlier to prevent attacks on each other's nuclear installations.
But a bilateral no-first-use agreement would go much further in easing fears of a nuclear war in South Asia.
The statement comes almost five years into a slow-moving peace process launched by Indian and Pakistan in January 2004 after coming close to war two years earlier over the disputed Himalayan state of Kashmir.
Mostly Muslim Pakistan and mainly Hindu India have fought three wars since independence from Britain 61 years ago and conducted tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998.
|
