GENEVA: Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar voiced concern over the “generous” supply of conventional and non-conventional weapons to India, saying it was severely straining South Asia’s strategic stability and threatening “our national security”.

“The largest country in the region continues to be a beneficiary of nuclear exceptionalism, in violation of established non-proliferation norms and principles,” Khar told a high-level UN panel via a video-link from Islamabad.

“This country also remains a net recipient of generous supplies of advanced conventional and non-conventional weapons, technologies and platforms,” the minister of state told the panel, without naming India. Khar addressed the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, a 65-member forum established by the international community to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements, which began its session on yesterday. Read more: Khar reaffirms commitment to stable Afghanistan

The minister said that the favours being done to India were straining the security environment; heightening the risks to peace and stability in the region; reinforcing a sense of impunity in the recipient state and freezing pathways to conflict resolution through peaceful means. She emphasised that one-third of humanity that lived in South Asia deserved investments in sustainable peace and development.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 03 2023

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