ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has noted with concern the long-term uranium supply agreement concluded between Canada and India and potential cooperation on small modular reactors and advanced reactor technologies between the two sides.“This arrangement represents yet another country-specific exception in the field of civil nuclear cooperation,” said the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tahir Andrabi, on Thursday while responding to media queries regarding the conclusion of the agreement between India and Canada on the supply of uranium and cooperation in nuclear reactor technology.He said that is particularly ironic given that India’s 1974 nuclear test, conducted using plutonium produced in a reactor supplied by Canada for peaceful purposes, had led directly to the establishment of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). “A state whose actions necessitated the establishment of global export controls is now being granted preferential access under selective arrangements,” Andrabi remarked.READ MORE: Carney on route to Asia to promote Canada trade as US ties falterIndia has neither placed all its civilian nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards nor undertaken any binding commitment to do so under this arrangement, the spokesperson said, adding several facilities remain outside international inspection. It is also unclear what concrete non-proliferation assurances, if any, accompany this agreement.The strategic consequences are equally troubling. “Assured external uranium supplies effectively release India’s domestic reserves for military use, enabling the expansion of its fissile material stockpiles, accelerating the growth of its nuclear arsenal, and deepening existing asymmetries in South Asia’s strategic balance”.In this context, Andrabi stated the arrangement also undermines Canada’s commitment to the international non-proliferation regime and its corresponding obligations under that framework.Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
