UNITED NATIONS – Pakistan has expressed concern over the threats posed byanti-satellite missile tests to regional and global stability and calledfor steps to prevent outer space from emerging as a new realm of conflictand arms race.
Speaking in the General Assembly’s Disarmament and International SecurityCommittee, Pakistan’s delegate Husham Ahmed drew attention to ademonstration of anti-satellite capabilities in South Asia earlier thisyear, obviously referring to India’s testing of an anti-satellite weapon inan operation code named ‘Mission Shakti’.
“In the absence of strong legal instruments regulating the testing,development and deployment of ASAT (anti-satellite) weapons, other statescould also follow suit by demonstrating such capabilities,” he said whileparticipating in a debate on Outer Space matters.
“The potential integration of Anti Ballistic Missile systems and theircomponents into space assets adds another worrying dimension to thismatter,” Husham Ahmed, Director in Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Pakistan was firmly opposed to weaponization of outer space, he said.“While our dependence on outer space applications is on the rise, the riskof its weaponization is also growing.”
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The Pakistani delegate called the Conference on Disarmament (CD) toimmediately commence negotiations on the Prevention of an Arms Race inOuter Space (PAROS) to comprehensively address the gaps in theinternational legal regime governing the exploration and use of outerspace, with the Chinese-Russian draft treaty being a good starting pointfor discussions.
Outer space, the Pakistani delegate added, was “our common heritage”.
