“Selective exemptions diminish the credibility of the global non-proliferation framework”, says MOFA spokesman Tahir Andrabi
Pakistan has expressed concern over the long-term uranium supply agreement between Canada and India and potential cooperation on small modular reactors and advanced reactor technologies between the two sides, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
In response to media queries, Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan reiterates that “civilian nuclear cooperation must be governed by a non-discriminatory, criteria-based approach that applies equally to states that are not parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”
The spokesman said selective exemptions diminish the credibility of the global non-proliferation framework and risk further destabilizing regional and global peace and security.
He said that this arrangement represents yet another country-specific exception in civil nuclear cooperation and that it is “particularly ironic given that India’s 1974 nuclear test, carried out using plutonium produced in a reactor supplied by Canada for peaceful purposes, had led directly to the establishment of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.”
“A state whose actions necessitated the establishment of global export controls is now given preferential access under selective arrangements,” he said.
Tahir Andrabi said that India has neither placed all its civilian nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards nor made any binding commitment to do so under this arrangement. Several facilities remain beyond international inspection. It is also unclear what specific non-proliferation assurances, if any, accompany this agreement.
He said the strategic implications are equally troubling, as “Assured external uranium supplies effectively release India’s domestic reserves for military use, enabling the expansion of its stockpiles of fissile material, accelerating the growth of its nuclear arsenal, and deepening existing asymmetries in South Asia’s strategic balance.” He added that in this context, the arrangement also undermines Canada’s commitment to the international non-proliferation regime and its corresponding obligations under that framework.
India and Canada agreement
India and Canada reached a series of deals on Monday, including on critical minerals cooperation and a “nice” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi.
The pacts, which also covered technology and the promotion of the use of renewable energy, were announced after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in relations between their nations.
“Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said.
Carney’s visit is an important step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi of orchestrating a deadly campaign against Sikh activists in Canada, allegations India denied.
“There has been more engagement between the Canadian and Indian governments in the last year than there has been in more than two decades combined,” Carney said in New Delhi, speaking alongside Modi.
