NEW YORK: Pakistan has called for increasing efforts to stop an arms race in outer space, warning that any conflict that originates or erupts in from there “will not be confined to that realm.”
“The fallout will ripple across all domains of life, with overwhelming costs for us all: Even countries without space assets will not be spared,” Pakistan’s delegate Gul Qaiser Sarwani told the General Assembly’s First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) in its debate on Thursday
Sarwani, a counsellor in the Pakistan Mission to the United Nations, stated that the risks and potential for conflict in or from outer space have also deepened, as has a reliance on outer space in every domain of daily life. The most conspicuous manifestation of these risks, he said, is an emerging arms race as well as the weaponization of outer space.
The interplay between defensive as well as offensive capabilities, especially the integration of missile defence systems with space-based technologies, is also undermining strategic stability at both international and regional levels, the Pakistani delegate stated. “With modern warfare relying so heavily on space-based assets, there is a real risk that conflicts on Earth could spill over into outer space.”
In this connection, Gul Qaiser Sarwani called for solid, meaningful action, regretting that no progress has been made on advancing global negotiations on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space in accordance with the spirit of the Outer Space Treaty that was negotiated about six decades ago.
