IMP: US, Pakistan heading towards confrontation over N-arms issues

WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan are heading towards yet another confrontation, perhaps consequentially more devastating than all previous disputes, as the Obama administration prepares to persuade Islamabad to halt the production of nuclear bomb materials.
Recent reports in the US media suggest that the UN General Assembly in New York next month will be the venue for this new push and the US has the blessings of four declared nuclear powers for its move.
Also on Wednesday, the NBC News channel reported that the US was preparing for “the worst-case scenario of attempting to snatch Pakistan`s 100-plus nuclear weapons if it feared they were about to fall into the wrong hands”.
The channel quoted former president Pervez Musharraf as warning that this “would be a disastrous miscalculation, as such an incursion would lead to `total confrontation` between the United States and Pakistan”.
Current and former US officials, however, told NBC News that “ensuring the security of Pakistan`s nuclear weapons has long been a high national security priority, even before the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, and that plans have been drawn up for dealing with worst-case scenarios in Pakistan”.
But the expected confrontation in New York has nothing to do with any secret plan to snatch Pakistan`s nukes. The United States will launch an open move with support from other powers to force Pakistan to sign the Fissile Material Cutoff
Treaty.
The US media reported that the Obama administration had won China`s support for finalising the FMCT. At a recent conference in Paris, Russia, France and Britain all declared nuclear powers like China – also supported the US plan.
It is, however, not clear if China would back the move to cap Pakistan`s nuclear capability and thus allow India to become the sole nuclear power in South Asia.
The US and its allies are seeking an agreement by September and then go to the UN General Assembly with a joint plan for starting talks on the

Pakistan And The FMCT By Ikram Sehgal

On December 16, 1993, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the “negotiations of ‘a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices”. Since then, negotiations for the fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT) continue to be stalled on various issues.
The US contributed to the stalemate by refusing to accept international mechanisms for verification and insisting that National Technical Means (NTMs) were adequate to ensure compliance. The Obama Administration broke the impasse last year by its pledge to support international verification.
Fundamental differences between the 65 members of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) on the purpose and scope of the FMCT have failed to evolve its final draft. Every member has the right of veto, countries have the right to halt negotiations; if the national interests of any member country is targeted the next stage is not possible. Many members question whether it would be a measure of nuclear non-proliferation or would it address the