Nuclear Mainstreaming Pakistan

Abstract

For the past seventy years, nuclear non-proliferation has been the top US foreign policy priority. Towards that end America has been successful in keeping the number of officially recognised number of Nuclear Weapon States (NWS) limited to five. There are four more nations that possess nuclear weapons outside the nuclear NonProliferation Treaty (NPT) including India and Pakistan. Different non-proliferation standards have been applied to these two South Asian rivals ever since they became de facto NWS in the summer of 1998. India has been the recipient of special favours, with the US signing a civil nuclear deal with India in 2005 and helping it get a special waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers‟ Group (NSG) in 2008. This set a precedent for other countries seeking nuclear commerce with India to grant similar favours. Pakistan has been mostly left out in the cold. Sensing Pakistan‟s keenness to acquire nuclear legitimacy, in August 2015 a joint study by two US think-tanks set certain pre-conditions that would allow it to become a „normal‟ nuclear state. These included inter alia pledges to give up its Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs), not using the veto against the Fissile Missile Cut-off (FMCT) Treaty at the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and not letting its territory be used for terrorist attacks against India. The reaction in Pakistan was predictable and there were calls to reject such suggestions altogether. The purpose of this article is to examine the US proposal with an open mind and to determine if at all it represents a window of opportunity.