India, Canada uranium pact represents ‘country-specific exception’ in civil nuclear cooperation: FO

The Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday that the agreement between India and Canada for uranium supply represented “yet another country-specific exception in the field of civil nuclear cooperation”.

On Monday, India and Canada reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power.

“In civil nuclear energy, we have struck a landmark deal for long-term uranium supply,” Modi said, adding the countries would also work together on small modular reactors and advanced reactors.

Responding to media queries on the matter, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said, “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,” he said.

He maintained that “it 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”.

“A state whose actions necessitated the establishment of global export controls is now being granted preferential access under selective arrangements,” he added.

Andrabi highlighted that India had not placed all its civilian nuclear facilities under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards or undertaken any binding commitment to do so under the arrangement.

“Several facilities remain outside international inspection,” he said, adding that it was also unclear what concrete non-proliferation assurances, if any, accompanied the agreement.

He further noted that the strategic consequences were 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, the arrangement also undermines Canada’s commitment to the international non-proliferation regime and its corresponding obligations under that framework,” he said.

“Pakistan reiterates that civil nuclear cooperation must be governed by a non-discriminatory, criteria-based approach applicable equally to states that are not parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” he said.

“Selective exceptions diminish the credibility of the global non-proliferation framework and risk further destabilising regional and global peace and security,” he said.