THE United States has clamped nuclear-trade sanctions on seven Pakistani companies. This step presumes the companies may import dual-use material for nuclear fabrication or proliferation. Imposing sanctions without defining the offence is unjust.

Lt-Gen. (r) Kamal Matinuddin, in his book The Nuclearisation of South Asia (page17) says: “…[B]y now nuclear technology was no secret. Dual use technology was available off the shelf. The Atom for Peace programme, initiated by the Eisenhower administration in 1953, also helped in spreading technical know-how to produce nuclear energy in many developing countries…”.

India was the foremost critic of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1968 when it was sponsored by the USA, the (erstwhile) USSR and the UK. India pointed out that the NPT was flawed in that it did not cover several types of nuclear weapons which could be made available to Nato forces, including non-nuclear countries. Nato gave operational training in the use of such weapons to troops of even non-nuclear countries.

Nuclear weapons, outside the circumference of Nato, included: (1) Genie air-to-air rockets, (2) thermonuclear tactical bombs (e.g. B28), (3) Honest-John missiles, (4) Nike-Hercules missiles, (5) Lance missiles, (6) artillery-fired atomic projectiles, and (6) Pershing missiles.

K. Subrahmanyam in his book Nuclear Proliferation and International Security points out “the real problem of proliferation as highlighted by history … is the continuing ‘qualitative and quantitative’ proliferation of nuclear weapons by the sponsors of the treaty and not so much new nations becoming self-acknowledged nuclear-weapon powers”.

Pakistan too had reservations concerning the NPT. Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, former foreign minister, in his inaugural address at an international conference on nuclear non-proliferation in South Asia, at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, in September 1987, questioned: “Does the United States have the moral right to ask other nations not to produce nuclear weapons when, even after the collapse of the ‘evil empire’ and the threat from its enemy having virtually disappeared, its nuclear arsenal still has a total of 35,0230 nuclear warheads.”

The five countries which possess nuclear weapons can legitimately ask others not to acquire these weapons only if they themselves are genuinely prepared to eliminate their own nuclear arsenals. This ethical basis for nuclear non-proliferation is all too often forgotten. Despite the NPT, the recognised nuclear weapon states continue to produce more nuclear weapons.

Malik Asad
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2018