In a veiled criticism of India, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said on Thursday that the “generous” supply of conventional and non-conventional weapons to the neighbouring country was severely straining South Asia’s strategic stability, and threatening “our national security”.
“The largest country in the region continues to be a beneficiary of nuclear exceptionalism, in violation of established non-proliferation norms and principles,” she told a high-level United Nations panel, without naming India, during a conference via video link from Islamabad.
“This country also remains a net recipient of generous supplies of advanced conventional and non-conventional weapons, technologies and platforms,” she said.
Khar’s remarks come as India has ramped up spending to modernise the military with Prime Minister Narendra Modi underlining the commitment to boost domestic production to supply forces deployed along two contentious borders with Pakistan and China.
Addressing the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament, Khar lamented that the favours being done to India were straining the security environment and heightening the risks to peace and stability in the region.
