May 24, 2003	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21,1424

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ISLAMABAD, May 23: Pakistan has said that resumption of dialogue with India would enable the two sides to conclude substantive and result-oriented measures for arms restraint and promotion of security in South Asia.

“We are prepared to discuss with India several measures for nuclear and strategic stability in South Asia, including the formalization of a moratorium on nuclear testing by both the countries,” Foreign Secretary Riaz A. Khokar said while addressing the UN Conference on Disarmament and its relevance for South Asia on Thursday.

He also called for a just solution to the Kashmir dispute as continuation of this dispute, in a nuclear environment, was a source of concern for everyone.

The foreign secretary expressed the hope that South Asia would be identified not as a dangerous place but one where the two nuclear neighbours could indeed co-exist as responsible nuclear states.

“Nuclear realities in our region impose certain obligations and responsibilities on our two countries,” he said.

“It is, therefore, important for both India and Pakistan to engage in serious discussions for nuclear and strategic stability in our region,” he said at the 65-member conference in Geneva.

In this context, Mr Khokar said, Pakistan supported the confidence-building measures outlined in the memorandum of understanding signed at Lahore in February 1999.

He said there were several measures which Pakistan was prepared to discuss and reach agreement on. The foreign secretary said both Pakistan and India were observing a moratorium on nuclear testing and “this could be formalized.”

An agreement on non-deployment of nuclear weapons based on agreed definitions would also be a major factor for stability, the foreign secretary said.

Further, he said a formal agreement to notify each other of ballistic missile tests would constitute an important confidence-building measure.

A conventional military balance in South Asia was also critical to prevent the use of force which could escalate unpredictably, the foreign secretary added.

Mr Khokar said preserving the conventional balance in South Asia was also a major responsibility of states that were large exporters of conventional weapons.

He said most of them were ardent supporters of non-proliferation and also subscribed to prescriptions calling for non-transfers of weapons to regions of tension, yet there was a pattern of their words not matching deeds.

The foreign secretary warned that already there were forecasts of conventional weapons transfers to our neighbourhood which could seriously erode the conventional balance and generate instability and insecurity.

He asserted that transfers of anti-missile systems, airborne early warning capabilities and major naval capabilities including nuclear propulsion craft would be viewed by Pakistan with utmost seriousness and Pakistan would be obliged to take counter measures.

“Pakistan believed that an arms race in South Asia was avoidable and unnecessary, and those who wished to see South Asia emerge as a peaceful and prosperous region would underscore their goodwill through prudent decisions as regards transfers of destabilizing weapons systems,” he added.

He emphasized the need for a new architecture of security in South Asia based on agreed tenets to include at the minimum, the following:

(a) Foreswearance of the use or the threat of force in settling disputes.

(b) Full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states of the region.

(c) A permanent mechanism for bilateral dialogue and consultations for dispute settlement.

(d) Initiation of result-oriented talks for devising mutually acceptable confidence-building measures in the nuclear field.

(e) Stabilization of conventional forces at levels consonant with the legitimate security needs of all states of the region, and

(f) Renewed commitment to jointly combat the true enemy of South Asia i.e. poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease.

Mr Khokar said in South Asia the denial of the right to self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir remained an acute source of tension.—APP