In an editorial published on November 7, the American daily said Islamabad’s competition with India, “which is adding to its own nuclear arsenal, is a losing game”. At present, Pakistan is spending about 25 per cent of its budget on defence. Reining in its nuclear operations would be in the country’s long-term interest, the editorial said. “It cannot provide adequate services for its citizens” because of the huge allocation for defence.
Pakistan’s official position is that it needs more nuclear weapons to counter India’s conventional arsenal. It’s expected to become the world’s third largest nuclear power with as many as 120 warheads, behind the U.S. and Russia.
Last month, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhary had told a news briefing in Washington that Islamabad had built low-yield nuclear weapons, or tactical nuclear weapons, “to counter Indian aggression”. Such weapons “are more likely to be used in a conflict with India and could more easily fall into the hands of terrorists…,” added the editorial.
The NYT has also urged the U.S. to keep trying to reach a deal with Pakistan aimed at reining in its nuclear programme.
“The major world powers spent two years negotiating an agreement to restrain the nuclear ambitions of Iran, which doesn’t have a single nuclear weapon. Yet there has been no comparable investment of effort in Pakistan, which, along with India, has so far refused to consider any limits at all.”
The Obama administration has begun talks with Islamabad in this regard. But a nuclear deal similar to the one with India is not on the cards. American officials “are discussing what Pakistan needs to do to justify American support for its membership in the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which governs trade in nuclear fuel and technology.”
At present, Pakistan is not an internationally recognised nuclear power. The father of the country’s nuclear weapons programme, A.Q. Khan, has been accused of providing nuclear technologies to countries such as North Korea and Iran.
Recently, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had said in an interview that Tehran had received nuclear centrifuges from Pakistan.
It is worth noting that the NYT editorial comes at a time when tensions are running high between India and Pakistan. The editorial also criticises Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not doing anything “to engage Islamabad on security issues, and he also bears responsibility for current tensions
