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
https://arab.news/ysf7g
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
Dozens killed as security forces repulse separatist attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan
- The attacks unfolded early Saturday when outlawed Baloch Liberation Army members attacked several cities in the restive region
- Security official says 37 militants, 10 security personnel killed in skirmishes that revived memories of similar attack in 2024
QUETTA/ISLAMABAD: Dozens of militants and security personnel and policemen were killed as Pakistani security forces repulsed coordinated attacks by separatist militants in the southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Saturday, in the latest incident of violence in the insurgency-hit region.
Separatist militants, affiliated with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), launched “coordinated” attacks in several cities of Balochistan early Saturday, according to a senior police official, who requested anonymity.
The attacks in the provincial capital of Quetta began at around 6am with a powerful explosion, followed by intense gunfire that lasted for two hours along with multiple explosions. Residents of Dalbandin and Nuhski said they heard explosions and gunfire, while similar attacks were launched in Mastung, Gwadar, Pasni and Turbat.
A security official said Pakistani forces had repulsed the attacks and killed 37 “Indian-backed militants,” who were in continuous contact with “their handlers in Afghanistan.” Islamabad has frequently blamed such attacks on India and Afghanistan, an allegation consistently denied by Kabul and New Delhi.
“The terrorists of Fitna Al-Hindustan (Indian-backed Baloch separatist groups) launched coordinated attacks this morning at more than 12 locations, including Quetta, Noshki, Dalbandin, Pasni, and Gwadar,” the security official said.
“In these attacks, 37 terrorists have been eliminated. Throughout the operation, the terrorists were reportedly in continuous contact with their handlers in Afghanistan. Ten security personnel were martyred while few others were injured.”
A senior official at the Civil Hospital in Quetta told Arab News they had received 15 bodies, including nine policemen.
“Eight injured with bullet wounds were brought to the hospital,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Five of them were later shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Quetta.”
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the site of a decades-long insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who often attack security forces and foreigners, and kidnap government officials.
Shahid Rind, the Balochistan chief minister’s aide for media and political affairs, said police and paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) had foiled the attacks and were chasing the assailants.
“After the killing of more than 70 terrorists at different places in Balochistan in the last two days, terrorists have attempted to attack at a few places in Balochistan, which have been foiled by timely action by the police and FC,” he said on X.
“At present, the pursuit of the fleeing terrorists is underway. More details will be revealed very soon.”
In a statement issued on Saturday, BLA said the group had launched ‘Operation Herof 2.0,’ which included a series of attacks in multiple cities of Balochistan.
Saturday’s attacks follow coordinated attacks carried out by the group in Aug. 2024 in various districts of Balochistan which killed dozens of people.
The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.
Pakistan Railways suspended train service from Balochistan to other parts of the country for a day, following Saturday’s attacks.
“Quetta-Peshawar bound Jaffar Express, and Quetta-Chaman passenger trains have been canceled due to the prevailing security situation in Balochistan,” Muhammad Kashif, the railways controller in Quetta division, told Arab News.
