Official says Pakistan promises nuclear arms responsibility

When India started down the nuclear road by launching its program in the early 1970s, Pakistan was quick to follow. The tensions between the two countries — neither of which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Agreement — have raised the spectre of a nuclear confrontation between the two hostile neighbours.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947 when majority Muslim Pakistan was created from the larger South Asian subcontinent.

Aziz, the prime minister’s adviser, told participants at the Islamabad conference that Pakistan has implemented regulatory precautions to avoid siphoning off technology into the wrong hands.

The international community has expressed fears militants could lay their hands on nuclear and other destructive materials, particularly as various al-Qaida-linked and other militant groups and the rival Islamic State group are still able to stage large-scale attacks in both Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.

Pakistan has come under sanctions in the past because of its nuclear weapons program and as a result has run into shortages of spare parts for its nuclear reactors that provide energy. It has also been critical of U.S. support for India’s inclusion in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which devises guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.

The two-day conference also includes representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and Interpol.

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This story has been corrected to show that Pakistan and India are not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Kathy Gannon, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Official says Pakistan promises nuclear arms responsibility

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