India, Pak agree to extend N-risk reduction pact for 5 yrs

Islamabad: India and Pakistan today announced they had agreed to extend a pact on reducing the risk from accidents related to nuclear weapons for another five years.

The two sides agreed to extend the validity of the ‘Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons’ for five years with effect from today in line with an understanding reached during the sixth round of bilateral expert-level talks on nuclear confidence building measures held in Islamabad on 27 December 2011.

The agreement went into effect on 21 February 2007 for an initial duration of five years, said a statement from Pakistan’s Foreign Office. “It aims at reducing the risk from accidents related to nuclear weapons,” the agreement read.

During the talks held in December, India and Pakistan decided to move forward on proposals to extend two key agreements related to pre-notification of ballistic missile tests and reducing the risk from accidents related to nuclear weapons.

The two sides reviewed a range of existing nuclear and conventional CBMs (confidence building measures) and discussed proposals for additional measures in areas where the two countries could make forward movement.

A proposal for an agreement to prevent “incidents at sea”, involving naval vessels of the two countries, also came up during those talks.

The talks on nuclear and conventional CBMs were part of the peace process that resumed last year after a gap of over two years in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which were blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

PTI