Pakistan committed to nuclear disarmament for peaceful world: FO

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office of Pakistan said on Monday that the treaties banning proliferation of nuclear weapons could not yield results without consensus among nuclear-armed states at global level.

Pakistan is committed to the goal of nuclear disarmament in a manner that promotes peace, security and stability at regional and global levels, said Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria in a statement.

He said Pakistan reaffirms its commitment to making the world free of nuclear weapons through a universal, non-discriminatory and comprehensive convention on banning nuclear weapons. Treaty on Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons did not fulfill these essential conditions- both in terms of process and substance, he added.

Treaties not considering the interests of all stakeholders fail to achieve their objectives and Pakistan like all the other nuclear armed states, did not take part in its negotiations and cannot become a party to this Treaty, he further said.

Zakaria said Pakistan stresses that this Treaty neither forms a part of, nor contributes to the development of customary international law in any manner and added Pakistan believes in a cooperative and consensus-based process resulting in equal and undiminished, if not increased security for all states to achieve the objective.

He said the Geneva-based Conference on disarmament remains the most ideal forum for concluding such a convention.