UNITED NATIONS (The Thursday Times) — India and Israel were the only countries to vote against a resolution on conventional arms control tabled by Pakistan and Belarus at the United Nations on Monday, as it passed the General Assembly’s First Committee by 180 votes to two, with no abstentions.
The text says conventional arms control needs to be pursued mainly at regional and subregional levels, because most threats to peace since the Cold War have arisen between states in the same region. It backs agreements “at the lowest possible level of armaments and military forces”, and says “militarily significant States and States with larger military capabilities have a special responsibility” in promoting them.
India also voted separately against a paragraph that noted “with particular interest” the “proposals for conventional arms control made in the context of South Asia”.
Explaining the vote, Anmol Sher Bedi, First Secretary at India’s UN mission, said New Delhi was “not fully convinced” that the issue should be pursued mainly at the regional level. “This assumes that the security concerns of States politely stop at their regional borders. They do not,” he said, calling the idea of preserving a balance within a region “unrealistic”.
He said the vote was consistent with India’s past position, and also objected to asking the UN Disarmament Commission to consider principles for regional agreements, saying the body had already reached three consensus outcomes on the subject.
Pakistan has long proposed a regime of restraint in South Asia that includes conventional arms. The resolution now goes to the full General Assembly, which usually takes up First Committee drafts towards the end of the year.
