UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has voiced concern over the continued supply of advanced weapons and sensitive technologies to “one state” in South Asia and says it has been fueling instability in the region, Pakistani state media reported on Tuesday.
The statement by Pakistani delegate Gul Qaiser, a clear reference to India, came during a debate on conventional weapons held by the UN General Assembly’s Disarmament and International Security Committee.
Qaiser said some countries continued to prioritize financing wars over peaceful solutions at a time when the world was besieged by conflicts and cooperation was most needed to bolster peace-building efforts.
The Pakistani delegate lamented that efforts such as the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) had achieved only limited success in regulating conventional weapons, the Pakistani state-run APP news agency reported.
“Despite its emphasis on assessing arms transfers based on humanitarian, legal and security considerations, the reality is stark: advanced weaponry continues to flood volatile regions, often exacerbating disputes and even contributing to atrocities, including genocides,” Qaiser, a counsellor at Pakistan’s UN mission, was quoted as saying by the APP.
“In South Asia, one state is being supplied with advanced weapons and sensitive technologies leading to destabilizing accumulations despite the fact that it adopts hostile policies toward its neighbors and remains in defiance of multiple UNSC (UN Security Council) resolutions.”
Nuclear-armed neighbors, Pakistan and India, have remained at loggerheads and fought multiple wars since their independence from the British rule in 1947. The two South Asian countries regularly engage in testing newly developed weapon systems in an attempt to claim strategic dominance over each other.
But Qaiser said Pakistan, for its part, was committed to the establishment of a strategic restraint regime in South Asia, which included an element of conventional force balance.
“Pakistan neither wants, nor is engaged in an arms race in the region,” he said, calling for addressing the causes that propelled arms trade, instead of an exclusive focus on managing its effects.
The success of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) lies in the “delicate balance” it seeks to maintain between humanitarian considerations and legitimate security interests of states, according to the Pakistani delegate.
Pakistan shares concerns about the possibility of acquisition and use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by “non-state actors and terrorists.”
He said work on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS), also known as ‘killer robots,’ should continue with an aim to develop international rules through a new protocol that spells out prohibitions and regulations governing autonomous weapon systems to ensure compliance with the international humanitarian law and consistency with the objectives and purposes of the CCW.
Qaiser also called for addressing broader concerns regarding artificial intelligence (AI) in military capabilities and the use of autonomous weapon systems, saying these issues go beyond the international humanitarian law and require urgent international attention.
At UN, Pakistan voices concern over supply of advanced weapons to ‘one state’ in South Asia
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At UN, Pakistan voices concern over supply of advanced weapons to ‘one state’ in South Asia
- The statement, a clear reference to India, came during a debate held by UN General Assembly’s disarmament and security committee
- Gul Qaiser says Pakistan was committed to a strategic restraint regime in South Asia, which included conventional force balance
Pakistan highlights economic reforms at Davos, eyes cooperation in AI, IT and minerals
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaks at breakfast event in Davos at sidelines of World Economic Forum summit
- Pakistan, rich in gold, copper reserves, has sought cooperation with China, US, Gulf countries in its mineral sector
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif highlighted Pakistan’s recent economic reforms during the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) summit in Davos on Wednesday, saying that his country was eyeing greater cooperation in mines and minerals, information technology, cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence with other states.
The Pakistani prime minister was speaking at the Pakistan Pavilion in Davos on the sidelines of the WEF summit at a breakfast event. Sharif arrived in Switzerland on Tuesday to attend the 56th annual meeting of the WEF, which brings together global business leaders, policymakers and politicians to speak on social, economic and political challenges.
Pakistan has recently undertaken several economic reforms, which include removing subsidies on energy and food, privatization of loss-making state-owned enterprises and expanding its tax base. Islamabad took the measures as part of reforms it agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in exchange for a financial bailout package.
“We are now into mines and minerals business in a big way,” Sharif said at the event. “We have signed agreements with American companies and Chinese companies.”
Islamabad has sought to attract foreign investment in its critical minerals sector in recent months. In April 2025, Pakistan hosted an international minerals summit where top companies and government officials from the US, Saudi Arabia, China, Türkiye, the UK, Azerbaijan, and other nations attended.
Pakistan is rich in gold, copper and lithium reserves as well as other minerals, yet its mineral sector contributes only 3.2 percent to the countrys GDP and 0.1 percent to global exports, according to official figures.
Sharif said Pakistan has been blessed with infinite natural resources which are buried in its mountains in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and southwestern Balochistan regions.
“But we have now decided to go forward at lightning speed,” he said. “And we are also moving speedily in the field of crypto, AI, IT.”
He said the government’s fiscal and economic measures have reduced inflation from nearly 30 percent a few years ago to single-digit figures, adding that its tax-to-GDP ratio had also increased from 9 to 10.5 percent.
The prime minister admitted Pakistan’s exports face different kinds of challenges collectively, saying the country’s social indicators needed to improve.
“But the way forward is very clear: that Pakistan has to have an export-led growth,” he said.
SHARIF MEETS IMF MANAGING DIRECTOR
Separately, Sharif met IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on improvements in Pakistan’s macroeconomic indicators, efforts toward stability and progress on institutional reforms, a statement from Sharif’s office said.
He emphasized Pakistan’s commitment to fiscal discipline, revenue mobilization and sustainable development, it added.
The IMF managing director acknowledged and appreciated Pakistan’s reform efforts, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
“Both sides exchanged views on the global economic outlook, challenges facing emerging economies, and the importance of multilateral cooperation in safeguarding economic stability,” the PMO said.
