The Director-General Disarmament at the Foreign Office said that the neighboring country ‘Pakistan’ wants India to bring its entire civilian nuclear program under the safety regulations laid out by the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA).

DG Disarmament at Foreign Office Kamran Akhtar quoted “It is incumbent on us to stand up for our own interest.” Akhtar said that they want an assurance that India’s whole three stage nuclear power program would be under safeguards.

Karam Akhtar was speaking at a roundtable discussion in Islamabad, Pakistan on Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT), which was organized to prepare for the upcoming Conference on Disarmament (CD). Experienced FMCT experts also participated in the meeting.

He said that Pakistan won’t agree to FMCT until they get an assurance from India.

He said that negotiating a treaty that only bans future production of fissile material without taking into account the existing stockpiles would freeze "the existing asymmetries".

The report said that the DG Disarmament was of the opinion that India has been given "discriminatory waivers." It is a security concern for Pakistan.

He said eight of the Indian nuclear reactors; its fast breeder program and approximately five tons of reactor-grade plutonium were included in the safeguards of dictated by the IAEA.

He added that FMCT would only put Pakistan at a permanent disadvantage and undermine its security interests.

Akhtar fears that reactors not mandated by the safeguards might be used secretively for plutonium production and the present stockpiles might be diverted to a military program at a subsequent stage.

"Pakistan should not be asked to agree to something that is not in its strategic interest."

He said that "they have to factor into consideration possible actions by India that could undermine credibility of their nuclear deterrence."

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AMandeep