Alexey Dedov: ‘Russia is working with Pakistan to counter terrorism’

Russia has cut down its nuclear capacity by 85 per cent over the past 30 years, says Moscow’s envoy

Together with Moscow’s ongoing campaign against Ukraine, murky Russian involvement in the bloody Syrian conflict and the recent Novichock attacks in Salisbury, UK, have badly tarnished Russia’s reputation as a responsible global power. Equally, Trump’s new policy of maligning Pakistan despite its contributions to the causes of the western world have left Islamabad in a similar predicament. Below is the media reporting on the recent talk by the Russian Ambassador in Pakistan. Keeping his promise to return that he made during his first visit to The Pakistan Institute of International Affairs in 2015, Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Pakistan Alexey Dedov arrived at the PIIA on Friday evening to a very warm welcome. Since the ambassador’s last visit, the moderator of the event said there had been a great change in the global scene and “we look with interest at Russia’s role in world affairs, especially in Syria, and other global issues”. Discussing Russia’s “stabilising role” in South Asia, Mr Dedov, who has also served in India, Bangladesh and Iran, said that the modern world was undergoing a profound transformation.

He added that they were also witnessing dynamic changes in international relations. “Globalisation and technological progress contribute to the increased independence of nations,” he said. Talking about nuclear weapons, Ambassador Dedov said that the Russia Federation stood at the forefront of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. “Russia has made unprecedented contribution to the progress of this by cutting down its nuclear capacity by 85 per cent over the last 30 years,” he said. Another very important issue, according to Mr Dedov, is the prevention of the arms race in outer space and thus excluding it from becoming a new arena and yet another battleground for military confrontation. “Thus Russia, China and Pakistan along with many others are promoting this and are in negotiation to stop weapons from going into outer space,” he said, adding that Russia was also working with Pakistan to counter terrorism.

The Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy and Pakistan: A Talk by Yukiya Amano

The IAEA greatly values cooperation with Pakistan in peaceful uses of nuclear technology

Mr Yukiya Amano, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), recently made a three-day official visit to Pakistan. He visited various centres and facilities of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in Islamabad, Faisalabad and Karachi. He also visited Pakistani premier Mr Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. “Pakistan is completely implementing IAEA guidelines,” is the way he chose to describe the status quo while delivering his keynote address to a seminar on The Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy and Pakistan jointly organised by The Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA) and the Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS) on 14 March 2018. During his visit to Karachi, Mr Amano praised Pakistan and stated that that the new Kanupp II and III “plants are very heavily protected. Your country needs more electricity and you are committed to nuclear safety; you are working with the IAEA”. He expressed the view that nuclear power should not be limited to developed nations and developing nations should also have the right to use atomic power.

Notably, on the military side of things, China has just sold Pakistan a powerful missile tracking system. The PIIA’s chairperson Dr Masuma Hasan introduced Mr Amano in her welcome address during which she highlighted Pakistan’s track record on nuclear safety and gave the welcome remarks. The important seminar was attended by participants from different walks of life including serving and retired diplomats, senior military officers, scientists, academics, scholars, media persons and university students. During the seminar Mr Amano said that: “You have the knowledge; you have the pool of well-trained people to do their job. We [IAEA and Pakistan] have a fruitful two-way relationship.” As reported in Dawn, the IAEA chief explained that while his organisation is known as a global nuclear watchdog, he is motivated by the body’s new motto: atoms for peace and development.

Tehmina Mahmood: What Must be Said – Unified Voice for ‘A Just Peace’

On 11 April 2012, a poem appeared in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and in other European newspapers which led to a controversy in the west and definitely would cause concern in the western elite as the poem exposed the flaws in the international political system marred by the western hypocrisy in the name of peace and democracy. German Nobel Laureate Gunter Grass through his poem entitled Was gesagt werden muss – or ‘What Must be Said’ – termed Israel a threat to world peace and exposed the western hypocrisy in dealing with Israel and Iran’s nuclear programmes.

Grass points out that German government’s decision to sell sophisticated submarines equipped with nuclear capability to a country like Israel possessed with nuclear weapons and threatening to go for first strike against Iran prompted him to stand against western discriminatory policies.