APROPOS the report ‘Proactive diplomacy needed against Indian bid for NSG membership’(May 29). Pakistan expects China to plead our case at every forum. Islamabad needs to remember China has its compulsions too. As such, it voted against Pakistan on the FATF issue.

China has discovered a trove of precious metals (gold, silver, etc.) in the Chinese part of Arunachal Pradesh. Beijing is wary of Indian pressure to halt the mining activity. India wants give and take from China as quid pro quo for its silence on mining.

Our lackadaisical foreign office needs to expose the lopsided US policy favouring India. For instance, Pakistan not only voted in favour of the Non-Proliferation Treaty but also lauded it as a ‘landmark’. It refrained from signing the treaty as India, Pakistan’s next-door neighbour and arch foe, refused to sign it.

The most worrisome matter is the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). The US has the muscle and it means to put invisible pressure on Pakistan. It is surprising that nuclear scholars of repute are vociferous about Pakistan’s efforts to increase its enrichment capacity, but they are mum about India’s efforts. These scholars keep Pakistan’s enrichment capacity perpetually under a scanner.

The Institute of Science and International Security claimed that Pakistan possesses 50-90 nuclear weapons compared to India’s 55-115.The Institute claimed that Pakistan had 1,000-1,250 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEC) or uranium 235 enriched to 20 per cent or more.

The ISIS does not offer much enlightenment on India. It just surmises that India may have 300-470 kilograms of plutonium compared to 20-60 kgs of Pakistan. Pakistan mainly relies on uranium for making nuclear fuel while India on plutonium.

The Institute laments: “Not enough public information exists to determine whether a significant amount of HEU (highly enriched uranium) has been produced in the facility or if so, to estimate the size of an HEU stock. Nonetheless, based on the age of the project India may now be producing HEU in significant quantities, perhaps enough to make both fission and thermonuclear weapons.

Pakistan has a fair case. And the world needs to be informed about it.

Javed Malik
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2018