At UN, Pakistan voices concern over supply of advanced weapons to ‘one state’ in South Asia

A DRDO anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) 'Mission Shakti' (front) is being marched past along Rajpath during the Republic Day parade in New Delhi on January 26, 2020. (AFP/File)

• The statement, a clear reference to India, came during a debate held by UN General Assembly’s disarmament and security committee
• Gul Qaiser says Pakistan was committed to a strategic restraint regime in South Asia, which included conventional force balance

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has voiced concern over the continued supply of advanced weapons and sensitive technologies to “one state” in South Asia and says it has been fueling instability in the region, Pakistani state media reported on Tuesday.
The statement by Pakistani delegate Gul Qaiser, a clear reference to India, came during a debate on conventional weapons held by the UN General Assembly’s Disarmament and International Security Committee.
Qaiser said some countries continued to prioritize financing wars over peaceful solutions at a time when the world was besieged by conflicts and cooperation was most needed to bolster peace-building efforts.
The Pakistani delegate lamented that efforts such as the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) had achieved only limited success in regulating conventional weapons, the Pakistani state-run APP news agency reported.
“Despite its emphasis on assessing arms transfers based on humanitarian, legal and security considerations, the reality is stark: advanced weaponry continues to flood volatile regions, often exacerbating disputes and even contributing to atrocities, including genocides,” Qaiser, a counsellor at Pakistan’s UN mission, was quoted as saying by the APP.
“In South Asia, one state is being supplied with advanced weapons and sensitive technologies leading to destabilizing accumulations despite the fact that it adopts hostile policies toward its neighbors and remains in defiance of multiple UNSC (UN Security Council) resolutions.”
Nuclear-armed neighbors, Pakistan and India, have remained at loggerheads and fought multiple wars since their independence from the British rule in 1947. The two South Asian countries regularly engage in testing newly developed weapon systems in an attempt to claim strategic dominance over each other.
But Qaiser said Pakistan, for its part, was committed to the establishment of a strategic restraint regime in South Asia, which included an element of conventional force balance.
“Pakistan neither wants, nor is engaged in an arms race in the region,” he said, calling for addressing the causes that propelled arms trade, instead of an exclusive focus on managing its effects.
The success of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) lies in the “delicate balance” it seeks to maintain between humanitarian considerations and legitimate security interests of states, according to the Pakistani delegate.
Pakistan shares concerns about the possibility of acquisition and use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by “non-state actors and terrorists.”
He said work on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), also known as ‘killer robots,’ should continue with an aim to develop international rules through a new protocol that spells out prohibitions and regulations governing autonomous weapon systems to ensure compliance with the international humanitarian law and consistency with the objectives and purposes of the CCW.
Qaiser also called for addressing broader concerns regarding artificial intelligence (AI) in military capabilities and the use of autonomous weapon systems, saying these issues go beyond the international humanitarian law and require urgent international attention.