2011 began on a sombre note for arms control, nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament with Pakistan once again blocking negotiations for a FMCT
Pakistan is the main outlier in negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament over a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT). Its ceaseless quest for parity with India are not likely to meet with success. Meanwhile, nuclear stocks within Pakistan pose a danger to Pakistan itself.
By concentrating only on the inequities of the blasphemy law, Pakistani ‘moderates’ and commentators elsewhere are missing the point that the real battle is against radical Islamic thought.
The rise of the jihadist movement in Pakistan is driven primarily by ideological and religious factors. Decades of indoctrination of a virulent version of radical political Islam has motivated thousands of people—young and old—to take the path of violent jihad to capture political power, and through it, transform the society, economy and culture to bring about what they consider to be a pristine Islamic order.
It is a truism to say that the elite in Pakistan has used Islam to perpetuate its hold on power ever since the state came into being in 1947. The judiciary in Pakistan has been the latest to emphasise its Islamist credentials to legitimise its rise as an important constituent of the influential ‘quartet’ that is ruling Pakistan today.
As long as the sub-conventional deterrence holds, the enunciation of the Cold Start doctrine actually introduces a degree of strategic stability in the region.
The continuing spiral of violence in Karachi signals the slow but gradual melting of a nuclear-armed State controlled by a military allied with global terrorist networks.
China’s objection to the early release of a UN report on North Korea’s compliance with UN sanctions stemmed from its misplaced confidence in international diplomacy.
President Obama should make his stance clear on the issues of nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan and perhaps take up the issue with Hu Jintao when he visits Washington DC early next year.
