Pakistan welcomes P5 statement on prevention of nuclear war, arms race

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said that a joint statement by the five permanent members of the United Nations on the avoidance of war between the nuclear-weapon nations and the reduction of strategic risks was a positive development.

According to the statement published by the Kremlin on January 3, China, Russia, Britain, the United States and France agreed that a further spread of nuclear arms and a nuclear war should be avoided.

France also released the statement, underscoring that the five powers reiterated their determination for nuclear arms control and disarmament. They would continue bilateral and multilateral approaches to nuclear arms control, it said.

“This understanding among the permanent members of the UN Security Council can pave the way for concrete measures for strategic stability at the global and regional levels,” the Foreign Office said Thursday.

The spokesperson said that as a responsible nuclear weapons state, Pakistan supported the objectives of global and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, in line with the stipulations of the First Special Session on Disarmament of the UN General Assembly (SSOD-I) — with equal and undiminished security being the defining consideration.

He said the statement from the so-called P5 group rightly acknowledged the imperative of creating a conducive security environment for meaningful progress on nuclear disarmament.

This will include addressing the underlying security concerns of states, pacific settlement of outstanding disputes, and cessation of destabilizing arms buildups that accentuated asymmetries, he added.

In the context of South Asia, Pakistan’s proposal for a Strategic Restraint Regime, encompassing nuclear and missile restraint, conventional balance and settlement of disputes, could contribute significantly towards maintaining strategic stability and avoiding military conflict, the spokesperson noted.

This will also entail eschewing misplaced notions of space for war in a nuclearised environment.

“Pakistan fully agrees with the need for effective measures by all nuclear powers to guard against any unauthorised or unintended use of nuclear weapons,” the spokesperson reiterated.

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