NEW YORK: Pakistan has warned that rising nuclear risks, the expansion of nuclear arsenals and the weakening of arms control arrangements are undermining global security, calling for urgent progress on nuclear disarmament and legally binding assurances against the use or threat of nuclear weapons.
Addressing the thematic debate on nuclear weapons at the First Committee of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, Counsellor Syed Atif Raza said nuclear disarmament had been a central international objective since 1946.
He recalled that the Final Document of the first Special Session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament identified general and complete disarmament as a key objective, while emphasizing that all states have the right to security and that security should be maintained at the lowest possible level of armaments.
Raza highlighted growing concerns over the global nuclear environment, noting that the last remaining bilateral nuclear arms control agreement expired in February, leaving the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals without mutually agreed limits for the first time in more than half a century.
He expressed concern over the modernization and expansion of nuclear arsenals, the broader use of nuclear sharing and extended deterrence arrangements, discussions about resuming nuclear testing, and the increasing role of nuclear weapons in national security doctrines.
The Pakistani representative also warned that advances in artificial intelligence, cyber capabilities and space technologies were blurring the boundaries between conventional and nuclear operations, potentially reducing decision-making time during a crisis and increasing the risk of miscalculation.
On fissile material production, Raza said proposals for a treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons could entrench existing inequalities if they failed to address accumulated stockpiles. He argued that recent announcements by some nuclear-weapon states about increasing their arsenals without restarting fissile material production reinforced Pakistan’s position that existing stocks must also be considered.
He further cautioned that discriminatory exemptions and selective safeguards were weakening the international non-proliferation regime.
Turning to South Asia, Raza described the regional nuclear environment as particularly dangerous. He alleged that Pakistan’s eastern neighbour continued to expand its unsafeguarded fissile material stockpiles under special cooperation arrangements and had deployed nuclear weapons while increasing the readiness of its delivery systems, despite incidents involving accidental launches.
Raza said that, pending the achievement of nuclear disarmament, a legally binding instrument providing assurances to non-nuclear-weapon states against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons remained an urgent priority.
He reaffirmed that Pakistan would once again table its resolution on Negative Security Assurances and called on UN member states to support the initiative.
Pakistan’s statement underscored the need for equitable, non-discriminatory and verifiable approaches to nuclear disarmament and arms control amid growing international security challenges.