‘Not bound by it’: Pakistan questions legitimacy of UN treaty on nuclear weapons

Pakistan says it is not bound by any of the obligations enshrined in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons — adopted in July 2017 — as the accord failed to take on board the “legitimate interests of all the stakeholders”.

The UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was adopted by the UN in 2017 and it reached 50 ratification in October by Austria, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Nigeria, and Thailand among other countries.

In a statement issued by the Foreign Office, Islamabad said this treaty neither forms a part of nor contributes to the development of customary international law in any manner.

According to the statement, the treaty was negotiated outside the established UN disarmament negotiating forums.

“None of the nuclear-armed states, including Pakistan, took part in the negotiations of the treaty which failed to take on board the legitimate interests of all the stakeholders. Many non-nuclear armed states have also refrained from becoming parties to the treaty,” it added.

“The United Nations General Assembly, at its first special session devoted to nuclear disarmament in 1978, had agreed by consensus that in the adoption of disarmament measures, the right of each state to security should be kept in mind, and at each stage of the disarmament process, the objective would be undiminished security for all states at the lowest possible level of armaments and military forces,” the statement said.

The FO said the nuclear prohibition can only be achieved “as a cooperative and universally agreed undertaking through a consensus-based process involving all the relevant stakeholders which results in equal and undiminished security for all states”.

“It is indispensable for any initiative on nuclear disarmament to take into account the vital security considerations of each and every state,” the FO statement implored.