To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Pakistan's 1998 nuclear tests, Strategic Studies Institute Islamabad (SSII), organised a media workshop titled "Chagai: Twenty Years Later" on May 28, 2018. Representatives from different media outlets attended the workshop.
Speaking on the occasion, DG SSII and Member National Assembly, Dr Shireen M Mazari highlighted that Pakistan has strong credentials on nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation, and that it meets the requirements for full integration into the global multilateral export control regimes. She also reiterated that Pakistan has adopted various measures regarding physical protection of nuclear materials and has also developed strong mechanisms for regulating nuclear safety and radiation protection aspects being overseen by Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA).
Dr Mazari suggested that Pakistan should engage other countries, who object to India's membership of NSG, through its own diplomatic measures in order to effectively deal with the issue. Pakistan needs proactive and timely diplomacy to counter this issue. If we hadn't conducted tests India would have been recognised as formal nuclear state and we would have been forced to give up our testing. It would have been impossible for Pakistan to conduct tests later.
Unfortunately, due to our lack of proper policy guidance after 9/11, the US successfully delinked India's programme from Pakistan's programme. As a result civil nuclear concessions were given to India under the 2005 US-India Nuclear Deal. The most significant issue following the deal is the unsafeguarded fuel from civil reactors that has become available to India may well be used to make weapons.
Pakistan has signed IAEA safeguards agreement. India didn't sign the agreement until it signed an agreement with the US which was in fact a country specific agreement with exit clauses. Pakistan failed to carry out active diplomacy and it resulted in a free pass to India. India signed agreements that are softer. On the issue of AQ Khan, we made a mistake, he did not break any law because Pakistan was not a member of the NPT.-PR
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