UNITED NATIONS: Some powerful states had changed the strategic environment of the South Asian region, Pakistan complained to the world body on Tuesday and said it opposed banning production of fissile material used as fuel for nuclear weapons.

“Clearly it is not through choice but necessity that Pakistan is opposed to negotiations on Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), as no country can be expected to compromise on its fundamental security interests,” Pakistan's delegate told the UN.

Over the past few years, some powerful countries, in pursuit of their commercial interests as well as dubious notions of balance of power, have embarked upon an unfettered and discriminatory nuclear cooperation arrangement in gross violation of their international commitments. “They have no moral authority in calling for strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament regime when they are themselves responsible for undermining it,” the deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN, Mr Raza Bashir Tarar, told the first committee of UN General Assembly's Disarmament and International Security.

“This has accentuated our security concerns as such nuclear cooperation shall further widen the asymmetry in stockpiles in our region,” he said.

Thus, FMCT that purported only to ban future production of fissile material would permanently freeze a strategic disadvantage for Pakistan and was therefore, unacceptable, the Pakistani diplomat said.

With the introduction of the treaty into the agenda of the conference, Mr Tarar said Pakistan had called attention to the fact that a treaty to cut off future production of fissile material will freeze the existing asymmetries in fissile material stockpiles, which will be detrimental for its national security.

Accordingly, Pakistan has been advocating a treaty that not only bans future production, but also aims at reducing existing stockpiles of fissile material.