By Marten Youssef, Staff Reporter
Published: September 08, 2008, 00:04
Abu Dhabi: Pakistan's defence attache in the UAE says a nuclear arms race will follow the Nuclear Suppliers Group decision to lift a three-decade ban on nuclear trade with India.
"I can foresee a nuclear arms race between the two countries and even China," Pakistani Embassy Defence Attache Khawar Hussain told Gulf News in an exclusive interview.
"This poor decision will turn into 'weaponisation' and further escalate the tensions between already rival countries," Hussain said.
Formal condemnation
The landmark decision, which rebuked a 1974 ban, received no major reaction from Pakistan.
Hussain attributes this to its timing as it coincided with the election of Pakistan's new president Asif Ali Zardari.
The foreign ministry is expected to issue a formal statement condemning the decision.
"This is a very discriminatory action by the United States. Neither India nor Pakistan is a signatory of the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), but India got away with it," Hussain said.
Many from the international community have criticised this move saying this will render the NPT as "a useless agreement that has no weight".
Hussain said the decision that would allow India to buy nuclear fuel and technology from the world market had other motives.
"There are several reasons for this. The US is likely looking to India to counter China in the region and, of course, for economical reasons. The next 48 hours are going to be very crucial as to how this news is taken in the region. I don't expect it will be welcomed," Hussain added.
While both countries have repeatedly refused to sign the NPT or its counterpart, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, they are both desperate for energy.
Relations between India and Pakistan have been relatively calm since the 2001-02 standoff mainly due to the two being members of the coalition forces in the war on terrorism.
"Their participation has veered off some of the difference, but this decision is certainly to create rivalry," Hussain said.
Is there any harm if Pakistan push it by some other means?
China is not so powerful like Russia anyway, we just can not do it without concerning the pressure under U.S. and western countries cause we want to bulid up a well-developed country. So we don't want to give such a reason to American to say something about this. We love you guys so we can bulid fighter together, but to N-deal, we have to be more cautious about making promises.
