NPT rules
When all is said and done, what the recently-approved Iran nuclear agreement is all about is ensuring that Iran honours its commitment under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) not to…
Five-year NPT ritual
The 2010 Review Conference (RevCon) on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) is currently taking place in New York, almost as a global non-event. The world remains focused on a host of…
NPT and its future
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) comprising 11 articles, basically has three components the pillars as they are generally known: Non-proliferation, Disarmament and the right of the non-nuclear states to use…
Nuclear exceptionalism
The US has imposed sanctions on four entities allegedly involved in nuclear proliferation. These include the National Development Complex (NDC) and three Karachi-based companies: Affiliates International, Akhtar and Sons Private…
New normal?
IN September 2016, India announced that it had carried out a surgical strike against Pakistan. The strike had not happened in reality, and, at that point, most analysts concluded that India was…
Hiccups won’t derail system
“‘IF suicide was not forbidden (haram) I’d go into parliament with explosives and blow it up,’ roared a charged Shehryar Afridi, a leading light of the governing PTI and the…
The atomic club
After the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) became an important challenge for the international community. While the world’s major…
HEC finally gets executive director after five years
After a delay of about five years and several stopgap appointments, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) on Monday appointed former vicechancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) Dr Ziaul Qayyum…
Deliberate ambiguity
As western countries are floating the theory that Russia could escalate its conflict with Ukraine to a nuclear war, many western governments continue to turn a blind eye to Israel’s…
Nuclear disarmament
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is hardly the first time a nuclear power has attacked a non-nuclear nation. That raises questions about the arguments for non-proliferation. If nuclear-weapon states can…
