- Foreign Office questions safeguards, transparency in arrangement.
- FO warns agreement could expand India’s fissile stockpiles.
- “India hasn’t placed nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards.”
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday expressed concern over a uranium supply agreement between India and Canada, warning that the deal could have serious implications for regional strategic stability and the global non-proliferation regime.
The reaction from Islamabad came after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited New Delhi, where he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to strengthen economic and strategic cooperation, including civil nuclear collaboration.
During the visit, both sides announced plans to conclude a free trade agreement by the end of this year and set an ambitious target to raise bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030, up from nearly $9 billion recorded in 2024-25.
The two countries also signed a C$2.6 billion uranium supply agreement, while agreeing to cooperate on the development of small modular reactors and advanced nuclear reactor technologies.
Modi described the arrangement as a landmark deal to ensure long-term uranium supply for India’s civil nuclear energy programme, while Carney said the cooperation would support India’s pursuit of clean and reliable base-load power.
In a statement issued today, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan had noted with concern the long-term uranium supply agreement and the broader nuclear technology cooperation between the two countries.
He said the arrangement represented another country-specific exception in civil nuclear cooperation, pointing out that India’s 1974 nuclear test had been conducted using plutonium produced in a reactor originally supplied by Canada for peaceful purposes — an event that ultimately led to the creation of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
According to the spokesperson, it was ironic that a state whose actions prompted the establishment of global nuclear export controls was now being granted preferential access through selective arrangements.
The FO further noted that India has not placed all of its civilian nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, nor has it committed to doing so as part of the latest agreement, leaving several facilities outside international inspection.
The spokesperson also questioned whether the deal included clear and enforceable non-proliferation assurances, saying the details remained unclear.
Pakistan warned that assured external uranium supplies could allow India to divert its domestic uranium reserves for military purposes, potentially increasing its production of fissile material and accelerating the expansion of its nuclear arsenal.
Such developments, the FO spokesperson said, risk deepening existing strategic asymmetries in South Asia and could undermine Canada’s commitment to the international non-proliferation regime.
Reiterating its long-standing position, Pakistan emphasised that civil nuclear cooperation should follow a non-discriminatory and criteria-based approach, particularly for countries that are not signatories to the Treaty on the Non‑Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Selective exceptions, he said, weaken the credibility of the global non-proliferation framework and could further destabilise regional and international peace and security.
