UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations General Assembly has approved Pakistan’s four disarmament-related resolutions that are aimed at strengthening regional and international peace and security.
The resolutions were recommended by the 193-member Assembly’s First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) where the texts were adopted by the overwhelming support of its membership.
Of these, three resolutions dealt with regional disarmament, conventional arms control at regional and sub-regional levels as well as Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in the regional and sub-regional context.
The fourth Pakistani resolution sought security assurances for non-nuclear-weapon states.
Entitled, “Conclusion of effective international arrangements to assure non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons”, the resolution was adopted by a vote of 126 in favor to none against, with 59 abstentions.
Under the terms of the 21-power resolution, the Assembly reaffirmed the urgent need to reach an early agreement on effective international arrangements to assure
non-nuclear-weapon States against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons and appealed to all countries, especially the nuclear-weapon nations, to work actively for a common approach leading to a legally binding international instrument.
The resolution, entitled “Conventional arms control at the regional and sub-regional levels”, was adopted by a vote of 173 in favor, two (India, Russia) against, with two (Gabon, Zimbabwe) abstaining.
Resolutions on “Regional Disarmament” and “Confidence-building measures in the regional and subregional context” were adopted by consensus.
Diplomats told APP that the approval of the resolutions by the General Assembly was an acknowledgment of Pakistan’s commitment to promoting the objectives of regional and global disarmament as well as strengthening international peace and security.
The three regional resolutions, it was pointed out, draw attention to the conventional military danger in the regional context — obviously South Asia — and propose measures to address the associated risks.
These resolutions, inter alia, affirm that global and regional approaches to disarmament complement each other and encourage efforts aimed at promoting CBMs to ease regional tensions.
On conventional arms control at regional and sub-regional levels, the resolution acknowledges that preservation of a balance in States’ defense capabilities strengthens peace and stability.
