Pakistan rejects A-bomb Talks

Straits Times ^ | 1/26/2010 | Reuters

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

PAKISTAN, citing a 'clear and present danger' from its nuclear-armed rival India, ruled out on Monday global negotiations to ban the future production of material to make atomic bombs.

Confirming a Reuters report from Jan 22, Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Zamir Akram, said such a treaty would leave Pakistan - the most recent member of the nuclear club - at a permanent disadvantage.

Pakistan's stance, triggered by nuclear and arms deals between India and the United States as well as with other nuclear powers, is a blow to the Obama administration's efforts to revive global disarmament.

It also raises a stumbling block to the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament, where members had proposed starting work on talks to halt production of the highly enriched uranium and plutonium used to make nuclear weapons in what would be known as a fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT).

'A fissile material cut-off treaty that only bans future production of fissile material is unacceptable to Pakistan,' Mr Akram told reporters. It would only accentuate the disparity and imbalance that exists and that simply is not acceptable.'