N-deal with Pakistan will stop arms race: expert

LONDON: A prominent nuclear expert has said that the time is now for the western countries to offer nuclear normalisation to Pakistan to stop arms race and to end the ambiguities surrounding the nuclear production.
Mark Fitzpatrick, a former senior US diplomat, told audience at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) here on Thursday that the advantages of a nuclear deal with Pakistan far outweigh the disadvantages and there will be dividends if Pakistan is offered a similar deal on the lines of a 2005 deal with India which allowed normal access to commercial nuclear markets despite India’s refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. He was speaking in reference to the new IISS Adelphi book “Overcoming Pakistan’s Nuclear Dangers”.
He told The News: “If the western countries strike a nuclear deal with Pakistan then there are advantages for Pakistan and rest of the world. This will reduce nuclear tensions in the region and reduce the prospects of a nuclear war. A deal with Pakistan akin to the one the west has with India will help stop arms race. Pakistan today is at a disadvantage compared with India capability. Pakistan has a huge disadvantage when compared with India especially in the context of India’s greater potential as India can produce more nuclear weapons. It will be productive for all if this situation was frozen today.” Mark Fitzpatrick, who is director of the IISS Non-proliferation and Disarmament Programme, said that Pakistan should be able to match India’s nuclear power because Pakistan is at disadvantage because of the country’s smaller revenue sources.
He said there were fears about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals and “there is a legitimate reason for these concerns”. He said America had nuclear accidents at nuclear reactors and “we had near misses with nuclear weapons and with nukes custody, it has been deplorable”.
He said when new countries acquire nuclear weapons then there is a greater potential for accidents. “That’s one of the reasons that there is a concern. Then there is of course the case of former nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeera Khan who sent the nuclear material abroad.
I don’t think it happens today and all of this adds to the concerns.”He said the confluence of terrorist groups also causes worry but he said it was well established that Pakistan military has strong control over nuclear weapons and while there is some potential that some nuclear material could fall into the hands of terrorists there is no danger that the militants could take over nuclear installations of Pakistan.
He said the west can gain advantage if it used nuclear normalization as a tool to positively shape Pakistan’s nuclear posture.Answering questions of the audience, he said that the dangers associated with Pakistan’s nuclear programme - including nuclear terrorism, accidents, an arms race, onward proliferation, and most worrisome of all, the potential for a nuclear war - can best be averted by offering Pakistan a path to nuclear normalcy.