Pakistan invites India to agree on freezing nuclear weapons tests - development minister
MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax) - Pakistan has invited India to conclude an agreement on imposing a moratorium on nuclear weapons tests, Pakistani Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal said.
"More recently, consistent with its commitment to act as a responsible nuclear state that seeks to avoid an arms race in the region, Pakistan has proposed to India to translate our respective voluntary unilateral nuclear test moratoriums into a more binding bilateral arrangement," Iqbal said in an interview with Interfax.
"We were the first country to propose a nuclear weapon free South Asia, but India did not reciprocate and carried out nuclear tests and brought the nuclear factor into the equation of South Asian security. Pakistan, therefore, had to respond," he said.
"I wish to underscore the significance of strategic stability in South Asia. It is important that there is no discrimination and whatever treatment is given to India, the same treatment is given to Pakistan. Non-discriminatory access to nuclear technology for peaceful uses, including nuclear energy, and a criteria based approach for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group of Non-NPT States are essential in this regard," Iqbal said.