Thursday, July 24, 2008

Pakistan warns of Nuclear Arms Race

Nothing new there. Pakistan has been engaged in a clandestine nuclear arms race with India since 1974. So this is not news. What surprised me was this:

The Nuclear Suppliers Group bans exports to nuclear weapons states like India and Pakistan that have not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and do not have full safeguard agreements allowing the IAEA to inspect their facilities.

But the Nuclear Suppliers Group is ready to consider a waiver for India, in part due to lobbying from Washington.

The Bush administration has signed a deal to supply India with nuclear fuel but needs approval, first from the Nuclear Suppliers Group and then the U.S. Congress.

Pakistan is vehemently opposed to the Nuclear Suppliers Group doing business with its rival and may vote against approval of the draft at the August 1 board meeting.

I was amazed by the assertion in the article that Pakistan would be voting against the Indian Nuclear Deal. I didn't know that Pakistan was a board member or even a participant in the NSG. The website of NSG does not list Pakistan as a participant country. Perhaps this is just a typo and what the reporter actually meant was that Pakistan would be 'lobbying' against the deal and not actually voting.

Edit: OK, I got it finally. Pakistan, along with India, is at present members of the IAEA Board of Governors. Perhaps that is where Pakistan intends to vote against the India-IAEA specific agreement.


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