On the advent of the new calendar year, the DSS Department hosted Mr. Usman Iqbal Jadoon Counsellor and HoC at Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations, Geneva, on 2 January 2018, who gave a lecture on Multilateral Arms Control Politics. The session was moderated by Mr. Khalid Banuri, former Director General Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs (ACDA) Strategic Plans Division. In his opening remarks, the chair said that while the academia focused on the theoretical application and outcomes, it was imperative for the students and faculties alike, to learn about the perspective of the diplomats with hands-on experience.
In his talk, Mr Jadoon dwelled at some length about the UN disarmament machinery, by providing a genesis of how the UN system operates in the realm of arms control, commencing from the First Special Session on Disarmament, held in 1978, and the subsequent failed efforts. He also briefed the audience about the current state of play at the UN about the contemporary developments, including some recent trends, in particular, the US policy approach regarding the Korean peninsula, its focus on Iran in West Asia and the dynamics in South Asia. He explained the recent initiative of the Ban Treaty and the assessment of the divergent positions of the nuclear and non- nuclear states. He emphasized that in the UN, states want equal and undiminished security for all, albeit from their respective perspectives.
He spoke in significant detail about the substance and the ensuing processes regarding topical issues related to arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament, including the NPT, ban treaty, BMD, fissile material control, CCW, CWC and BTWC, etc. In view of the interest of the audience, he deliberated upon the Pakistani position on NSG, FMCT
The lecture was followed by an animated and a wide ranging question and answer session, in which the audience queried about nuclear weapons control, FMCT, global zero, space control, lethal autonomous weapons, the future of non-proliferation, the issues of strategic export controls, etc. Regarding Pakistani positions on various arms control issues, while explaining the rationale, he emphasized that carefully thought through positions need to be sustained unapologetically.