Nuclear Pakistan: Arms Control and Disarmament

Nuclear Pakistan: Arms Control and Disarmament

And Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Arms and weapons are considered to be essential for the security of the country. The basic aim of any country is security and survival and to serve security and survival, tools are required which are capacity and capability to build your weapons for defence. Arms and Weapons are used for two things aggression and defence which is dependent upon the policy of the country. Thomas Hobbes said, “Humans are by nature Brutish, Nasty and violent”, So weapons in the hands of human beings who are brutish, nasty and violent can’t be guaranteed and that means devastation and war.

Arms control and disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation are relevant concepts to each other. The only objective is the survival of the humanity, to reduce the atrocities, war and to maintain peace. Arms control and Disarmament are the major aspects of the international politics today. If we see back last 10 years, the agenda of disarmament includes different concepts and different dimensions;

1. Reducing the chances of war and stabilizing the chances of prosperity.
2.  Maintaining and expanding non-proliferation regimes that restrain the spread of nuclear weapons.
3. Constraining the spread of long range cruise missiles.
4. Banning chemical and biological weapons.
5. Restricting the size and composition of the conventional arms.
6. Creating regional confidence building measures and banning certain classes of non-nuclear arms like landmines.

These are the basic objectives of disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation regimes. The international powers like; America, Russia, China their national security policy revolves around that and for that purpose even during the cold war period they had started START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) and even CWCs (Chemical Weapons Conventions) and throughout the cold war most of the treaties were initiated bi-lateral and then they converted to multi-lateral. The realists have the reservations with this objective they consider it as impossible task to be done because for them maximization of the power is the main objective and every state is working for the maximization of the power, so why the states will reduce its power in the international politics and why they will leave space for others and why they will withdraw from domination. At the end of World War II when the nuclear arms were used that was more devastating and it was great threat to humanity.

There are two kinds proliferation (spread of weapon). Horizontal proliferation (spread of nuclear arms from country to country) and Vertical proliferation (spread of nuclear arms inside the country). Both proliferations are dangerous but the dilemma is that horizontal proliferation is given much emphasis while vertical proliferation is not given due concentration in the non-proliferation process. For maintaining nuclear non-proliferation, in 1960 major efforts has started by America and this effort was finally concluded with the treaty known as NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty), it is much controversial treaty. NPT is a treaty that allows the country to have access to the use of nuclear energy for the peaceful purposes but it restrains and constrains the use of nuclear energy for making nuclear weapons and NPT treaty recognizes P-5 (5 Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council) as declared nuclear weapon states and this NPT is designed that P-5 have the legal nuclear program but other than them no other country has right to have nuclear weapons and this is the discrimination of NPT.

Pakistan as a Nuclear State:

Pakistan has always faced security challenges since independence; on the conventional level it became difficult for Pakistan to become equal with regional powers especially India to maintain the balance of power. Pakistan tried to solve the issue of security but failed and then Pakistan was left with the option of making nuclear weapon in order to equalize.

Every country develops nuclear weapons for deterrence to avoid the threat and war from enemy country otherwise that can create a huge devastation. If nuclear weapons are used for deterrence to avoid the war then it is considered to play a positive role in maintaining peace. And this is the reason that Pakistan needs the nuclear weapon for deterrence to avoid threat and war from India. At least there are five occasions from 1980`s onward that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons averted the threat of conventional warfare between the two neighbours India and Pakistan, so that means having nuclear weapons enabled Pakistan to deter the enemy from war. 1946, Bernard Brodie said that “absolute (nuclear) weapons whose possession changed the role of the military from fighting and winning the wars to averting wars”