UNITED NATIONS, Feb 27: Pakistan's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Maleeha Lodhi has asked the United Nations to urge the five recognized nuclear states to adhere to their disarmament obligations under provisions of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty.

Ms Lodhi, who was in New York over the weekend to attend meetings of the UN's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, called for eventual recognition of three 'de facto nuclear states' - Pakistan, Israel and India - saying that the cooperation of all these states was essential to achieve the objectives of non-proliferation.

In a meeting with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, she reportedly expressed the opinion that action was also required to avoid the "nightmare scenario" of weapons of mass destruction falling into the hands of terrorists.