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After
India conducted its first "peaceful nuclear explosion" in 1974,
Pakistan proposed the establishment of a NWFZ in South Asia, (Resolution 3476
(XXX), Declaration and Establishment of a Nuclear Free Zone in South Asia)
at the UN General Assembly in 1975. In subsequent years, Pakistan submitted several
more proposals for the establishment of a NWFZ in South Asia. India, however,
consistently opposed this idea because of concerns about its neighboring nuclear
weapon state, China. India insisted that it needed to maintain a credible nuclear
deterrent against Chinese threats. Pakistan's and China's
cooperation in the area of nuclear and missile technology fueled India's
nuclear and missile development.
The 1998 nuclear tests by India and
Pakistan sent shock waves through the international community. These two states,
neither of whom were members of the NPT, now possessed nuclear weapons in an already
volatile region. A positive development came in February 1999, when India and
Pakistan signed
the Lahore Declaration, which stated their
intention to find a peaceful resolution to their territorial disputes and to
develop
confidence-building measures (CBMs).
Since then, each has declared a unilateral nuclear testing moratorium, but
neither country has expressed an intention to join the NPT.
The Final Document
of the 2000 NPT Review Conference supported the
establishment of NWFZs in South Asia as well as in the Middle East. However, the
fact that India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons outside the NPT has been a
major stumbling block in the achievement of this goal.
Possible member states to the future NWFZ in South Asia
would be the seven member states of
the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) - Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The
inclusion of Afghanistan has also been mentioned. India and Bhutan, however,
oppose the establishment of such a zone. China's membership in a South
Asia NWFZ is also essential for India to be a part of a South Asia NWFZ. Since
China is one of the five NWS recognized by the NPT and not likely to relinquish
its nuclear weapons, a NWFZ in South Asia is not likely in the foreseeable
future.
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