Pakistan says NCA nuclear policy causes instability in the region

The spokesperson of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan termed the policy of nuclear authorization for South Asia region as biased during the weekly foreign office briefing here on Thursday.

The Foreign Office spokesperson said that Pakistan was not the first to introduce nuclear weapons in South Asia. He referred to recent reports, which suggest that India is rapidly building its nuclear arsenal program and said special waiver for India on nuclear trade is a destabilizing factor.

Talking to the journalists, Foreign office spokesperson stated that the imposed discriminatory policy can be a cause of instability in the region.

"We have reiterated on nuclear issues on South Asia facing discriminatory policy which should not be imposed upon. India has been given a waiver from NCA (National Command Authority) due to which the nuclear material and technology is accessible to them, however, Pakistan does not and that could affect the stability of the region." reiterated Qazi Khalilullah.

He urged the international community not to pursue discriminatory policy on nuclear issue in South Asia.

"We have powered international community about the discriminatory policy; it is not good for this region." said Khalilullah.

Khalilullah, said the New York Times article on Pakistan's nuclear arsenals was mistaken and based on prejudice . The editorial attempted to portray Pakistan as an irresponsible country building the nuclear arsenals.

Pakistan is one of nine states to possess nuclear weapons, and the only Muslim majority country.

The National Command Authority is the apex civilian led command to oversee the employment, policy formulation, exercises, deployment, research and development, and operational command and control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenals.

The Government of Pakistan felt the need to establish an administrative authority after Pakistan's first publicly announced atomic tests, Chagai-I and Chagai-II, in late May 1998 at the Ras Koh weapon-testing labs in the Chagai Hills range of Chagai District.