ISLAMABAD: The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) was created in reaction to the nuclear test conducted by India in 1974 but now efforts are being made to give NSG membership to New Delhi. However, it has become difficult for India to join the group as Pakistan has also applied for membership.

This was stated by former law minister and senior lawyer Ahmer Bilal Soofi at a workshop, “Violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)” on Thursday. The workshop was organised by the Strategic Studies Institute Islamabad (SSII) in collaboration with the Research Society of International Law.

Mr Bilal said though Pakistan’s case was strong, it should make its move under the cover of the law. Laws are used as a reference for all sorts of actions against any country.

Expert says Pakistan should base efforts to protect its interests on international nuclear law

“Though the use of law increases the impact of foreign policy, there is no trend to study the law. We are ready to die for Kashmir but unfortunately we never bother to carry out a research on it,” he said.

“In the current situation, a country cannot start a war with another country without an excuse of self-defence. So laws such as the NPT have become very important,” he said.

Mr Bilal said the NPT was created in the 1960s and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is responsible for its implementation.

“According to the NPT, a country cannot give nuclear weapons or provide assistance to any other country to produce such weapons. Nations which do not have nuclear weapons cannot acquire them. Whenever a country wants to use nuclear energy, the IAEA checks it,” he said.

“We have got some equipment from Canada and China for the civilian use of nuclear energy but the IAEA officials keep on visiting the country to ensure that these are not used for military purposes,” he said.

“In the US-India nuclear deal, the chances of diversion from civilian to military have increased. So we need to study the law and incorporate it in all the steps taken by the government against it,” he said.

“We should launch courses in universities and law colleges to understand the nuclear law of the NPT. The IAEA is also ready to support such programmes.” He said the nuclear law cannot be left at two officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with. India has 30 to 40 lawyers in its foreign office while the UK has around 200. Similarly, other countries also have lawyers in their foreign offices.

Mr Bilal said countries possessing nuclear weapons should be recognised as nuclear states otherwise Pakistan cannot sign the NPT.

“India is getting nuclear assistance from the US, which is a threat for Pakistan. The balance of weapons should not be changed otherwise Islamabad will also try to increase its arsenals. We have to build a narrative against the US-India nuclear deal,” he said.

SSII Director General Dr Shireen Mazari said there was a need to study the law and get awareness about it because the government cannot defend its case without having experts on nuclear laws.

“While India and the US have a nuclear deal, we could not build up our case. The deal was a clear violation of the NPT but we could not take a stand and thought that if New Delhi entered into a deal, Islamabad would also get one, without realising that the US would never treat us at a par with India,” she said.

Currently, Pakistan, India and Israel have not signed the NPT and we should ask for a nuclear state status saying the NPT has been violated by the US, she said.

In reply to a question, Dr Mazari said both the bureaucracy and the establishment did not want to come out of their narrow thinking and never wanted to get an advice from those who possessed knowledge about the issue.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2016