ISLAMABAD: Ambassador Zamir Akram, Pakistan`s former permanent representative at the United Nation in Geneva, on Friday said that Pakistan needs to continue producing fissile material in order to achieve full spectrum deterrence.

Mr Akram, who also represented Pakistan at the Conference on Diasarmament (CD), was speaking at a seminar organised by the National Defence University (NDU) Department of Strategic Studies and Konrad Adenauer Stif tung.

Pakistan has been opposing fissile material cut off talks (FMCT) at CD. According to Mr Akram, Pakistan`s opposition to FMCT negotiations was based on national security concerns.

`We successfully got it recognised at the CD that, just as other countries have been opposing other items on the agenda of CD, we were opposing FMCT in view of our national security concerns,` he said. He rejected the impression that Pakistan had been isolated at CD.

Mr Akram explained Pakistan`s transition from strategic deterrence achieved after the 1998 nuclear tests to full spectrum deterrence. He said the emergence of a strategic relationship between India andthe US, the resultant nuclear waiver for India, and the Indian move to assert the counterforce value of its conventional forces and the Cold Start doctrine have made Pakistan feel vulnerable.

Pakistan, he said, then had strategic deterrence, but the conventional asymmetry was widening the response to which came in the shape of Pakistan`s full spectrum posture.

`For full spectrum to be achievable we need fissile material,` he said. Mr Akram observed that the proposed FMCT was a Pakistan-specific treaty. He said that any ban on the future production of fissile material would affect Pakistan.

He added that India, after its nuclear deals, can import fissile material from abroad for use in its civilian programme, while its indigenous stocks have been dedicated to the weapons programme.

He estimated that India had enough stocks to produce up to 50 nuclear warheads a year.

Strategic Plans Division (SPD) director Dr Adil Sultan said India had continued to receive unlimited concessions, while the pressure had been on Pakistan to unilaterally yield to FMCT, tactical weapons, longrange missiles and full spectrum posture.

Dr Sultan said Pakistan was not a part of the non-proliferation regime for political reasons. `There have been various proposals to integrate Pakistan into the mainstream,` he said. He emphasized that Pakistan desired to join the main non-proliferation regime without compromising on its national security interests.

Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) School of Politics and International Relations director Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal pointed out that: `The deterrence policy of a state is always fashioned to the unique circumstances of each situation. Assessing deterrence dynamics in the region necessitates the understanding of internal and external factors, which interplay in constructing and shaping the strategic environment of the region.

He added that: `The trends in the current strategic environment of the subcontinent signify that the stereotypical Cold War model of deterrence would not be appropriate for likely contingencies in the subcontinent.

Prof Dr Zulfiqar Khan, the head of NDU`s Strategic Studies Department, said adherence to full spectrum nuclear deterrenceposture had earned Pakistan a critical position in the region.

He said Pakistan should continue upgrading its deterrence and countermeasure strategies.

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Institute of Policy Studies director general Khalid Rehman that, despite being an initiative containing connectivity, infrastructure and energy projects, the implementation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would keep regional political and strategic dimensions in focus.

Therefore, he said, Pakistan and China would need to move towards the resolution of conflicts in the region or at least keep them from becoming obstacles in the way of the implementation of CPEC.

NDO`s Humayoun Khan gave an overview of CPEC and said its implementation would bring Pakistan immense economic opportunity.

Dr Aqab Malik suggested that Pakistan adopt a neutral posture in order to receive the utmost benefit from the changing scenario. Staff Reporter