The world is demanding from India and Pakistan to join the NPT as nuclear-free countries

Monday, March 1, 2021

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The world is demanding from India and Pakistan to join the NPT, nuclear non-proliferation treaty, as nuclear-free countries. It would be far more expedient to shift to new strategies that would, in particular, put up with the two countries' nuclear status. The opinion comes up in a paper on South Asian nuclear arsenals. Introduced in Moscow today, it was drawn by a Russian expert team. Gennadi Chufrin, its leader, is Vice-Director of the Institute of the World Economy and International Relations under the Russian Academy of Sciences. As the team sees it, the new strategies ought to envisage a set of steps to bring down to the least possible-or rule out completely-the negative results of the two countries staying outside the nonproliferation treaty. To be offered in exchange is international recognition of their nuclear status. Those measures are also to promote compliance with nuclear technologies and materials non-proliferation. To that end, it is necessary for India and Pakistan to include in their national nuclear doctrines the principle of not being the first to use nuclear arms. Either country is to receive recommendations to reach a bilateral agreement on reciprocal military expenditure reduction. There is another way, say Russian experts, to bring down the nuclear conflict hazard-India and Pakistan are both to pledge not to station nuclear arms in Kashmir. There is danger of international terrorists to obtain nuclear weaponry. Of special importance in that context is India and Pakistan giving up R&D to improve tactical nuclear arms. The experts call to encourage Indian and Pakistani cooperation with the IAEA, and promote the two countries' efforts to join international instruments on missile technology non-proliferation control.

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