News
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
US hopes Pakistan will join fissile material talksGENEVA: The United States believes it will be possible to convince Pakistan to join negotiations on a treaty to ban production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons, a senior US diplomat said on Tuesday.
The UN-backed Conference on Disarmament in Geneva has been considering such a ban. But Pakistan has blocked the start of negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty, arguing this would put it at a permanent disadvantage to India.
The two nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars since independence in 1947.
Laura Kennedy, the new US ambassador to the 65-nation conference, said its consensus rules, giving every participant a veto, would allow Pakistan to secure its interests.
“We hope that they will come to agree with us that they can engage in the negotiations and protect their national security interests at the same time,” the US ambassador told reporters.
Pakistan could be protected by the consensus rule.
Fissile material – plutonium or highly enriched uranium – is the essential ingredient for nuclear weapons, Kennedy noted.
“So you don’t get to a world without nuclear weapons without tackling this issue,” she said, referring to the long-term goal laid out by US President Barack Obama in Prague last year. reuters
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk