Pakistani ambassador to Egypt spells out his country's position
Regional-Pakistan, Politics, 6/12/1998

Pakistan's ambassador to Egypt, Tayyab Siddiqui, addressed the Egyptian Foreign Press Association on Wednesday to speak on the security situation in South Asia after nuclear tests were carried out recently by Pakistan and India.

Siddiqui reiterated the Pakistani position that his country was "obliged by security consideration and national defense" to respond to Indian nuclear tests with its own. Siddiqui added that when India conducted its tests on 11 and 13 May 1998, "we found, it soon followed these up with threats. These threats culminated in credible reports of planned pre-emptive strikes against Pakistan's sensitive facilities. Others may discount these reports, but Pakistan which has been subject to aggression 3 times could not ignore the nature and depth of the danger. Thus, the nuclear proliferation crisis was transformed into a major security crisis in South Asia."


Pakistan announced yesterday that it will observe a moratorium on further nuclear tests, and called for peace talks with India. Fox News reported that India today announced that it would enter into talks with Pakistan starting on June 22.

Ambassador Siddiqui referred to "credible reports of planned preemptive strikes against Pakistan's sensitive facilities" by India after its tests as a motivating factor in convincing Pakistan that it needed to make a strong response. He added that two other factors played into the Pakistani decision to carry out the tests: a "weak" response to the Indian test on the part of the international community and that "given the nature of the Indian regime," Pakistan felt it needed to prove its ability to defend its interests.

The Ambassador said that Pakistan was thus obliged to respond and made the distinction that "India's (actions) were a provocation. Pakistan's were a reaction.

He went on to say that Pakistan is not interested in an arms race with India nor is Pakistan seeking the status of a nuclear weapon state. "Our tests were defence oriented and meant to restore strategic balance in the region" he said.

He also placed blame on the international community for the initiation of an arms race in the region, saying that "to some extent, it was the dereliction of its responsibilities by the Security Council that emboldened India," but he added that the situation presents an "opportunity for the international community to build a stable structure of peace and security in South Asia." This, he said, can be achieved if the international community can help avoid conflict between the two countries, avoid a buildup of nuclear weapons in the region, address "the dangers posed by the imbalance in conventional arms and forces between India and Pakistan" and find a resolution to the two countries' dispute over Kashmir.

He added that " it must be acknowledged that the danger of conflict between Pakistan and India - whether conventional or non-conventional, arises from the underlying dispute over Jammu and Kashmir. It will not be sufficient to ease, "tensions" and sweep this burning problem once again under the carpet. India seeks to portray Kashmir as a problem of "terrorism". This carries no credibility. The fact is that 600,000 Indian troops are currently engaged in the occupation and suppression of the Kashmiri people. India and Pakistan have been unable to resolve this problem bilaterally for 50 years. It is time that the international community took collective action to try and implement the UN Security Council resolutions on Kashmir. At the very least, it should evolve a political framework within which a solution for Kashmir can be found."

The ambassador called said that Pakistan supports the resumption of the bilateral talks with India at the Foreign Secretaries level on the basis of the agreement reached in Islamabad last June.

In statements to ArabicNews.com, the ambassador said that Pakistan has a "sympathetic understanding with Arab countries. They have shown their appreciation of Pakistan's position after Indian nuclear tests, also when Pakistan was forced to give a response on May 28," but said in reference to a question on the Organization of the Islamic Conference's role, "Pakistan is not working with any Moslem countries in the field of nuclear technology. Peaceful or otherwise."

Siddiqui said that a resolution of the dispute over Kashmir calls for U.N. intervention, "Pakistan and India accepted the UN resolutions and agreed to let the people of Kashmir decide their future in a free and fair plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations. Pakistan has offered a number of proposals to the UN and India to declare South Asia a nuclear-weapons-free zone. This proposal of Pakistan has been endorsed all countries of the world expect India, Bhutan, and Mauritius."

"If Pakistan has any ambition, it is to see the weapons of mass destruction removed from south Asia," he said.

Previous Stories:
  Pakistan for Middle East peace process talks   (6/8/1998)
  Indian, Pakistani War of words about Israel and the Arab states   (6/2/1998)
  Pakistani ambassador in Cairo seeks Arab support   (6/1/1998)

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