In a bold foreign policy initiative during his first tenure as prime minister, Nawaz Sharif effectively linked the solution of the nuclear issue with the Kashmir problem. The Kashmir problem was effectively internationalised and brought to global spotlight. During Nawaz Sharif’s second tenure, in 1998, Pakistan responded to India’s nuclear tests by conducting similar tests and achieved the status of a nuclear power. Resultantly, India relented in its intransigent stance on Kashmir and formally started talking with Pakistan on this seemingly intractable issue. This led to the “composite dialogue” between the two bitter rivals of the past who are now mending fences.
This, by any standard, is no mean achievement. Recently, US presidential hopefuls and the IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei have expressed concern over the possibility of our nuclear arsenal reaching into the hands of the extremists. Pakistan should declare that it is prepared to denuclearise with certain preconditions. The first one should be universal nuclear disarmament, without discrimination. In fact, this is the stated position of India as well.