Summary: Non-signatory Pakistan acknowledges the humanitarian harm caused by cluster munitions, but views the weapons as legitimate and believes they should be regulated not banned. Pakistan participated as an observer in meetings of the convention in 2015 for the first time, including the First Review Conference in September. However, it abstained from the vote on a UN resolution on the convention in December 2015.

Pakistan states that it has never used cluster munitions. It produces cluster munitions and has likely exported them. Pakistan has not disclosed information on its stockpile of cluster munitions.

Policy

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Pakistan has often stated it recognizes the serious humanitarian consequences caused by the “indiscriminate use” of cluster munitions and welcomes “efforts to mitigate their negative consequences,” but views the weapons as legitimate with military utility.[1]

Pakistan participated as an observer in the convention’s First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015 and elaborated its views on accession to the convention in an address to the high-level segment of the meeting that stated:

Pakistan supports international efforts to address the issue of irresponsible and indiscriminate use of cluster munitions, and as such welcomes efforts to mitigate their negative consequences. Pakistan has never used cluster munitions in any military conflict or internal operations, and is opposed to their use against civilians. However, certain states have their legitimate security needs and concerns, keeping in view their peculiar security environment. Pakistan considers cluster munitions as legitimate weapons with recognized military value in our regional context. We, therefore, look at the military utility of cluster munitions differently from states that enjoy a peaceful neighborhood.[2]

Pakistan has long expressed its preference for cluster munitions to be regulated by the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), to which it is a party. In September 2015, it reiterated that “as a matter of principle, Pakistan does not support efforts to conclude important international treaties, especially those related to arms control, outside the UN framework.”[3] Pakistan said the CCW provides “the most appropriate forum for considering the issue of cluster munitions which adequately addresses most of the concerns related to the use of certain convention weapons.”

In 2011, the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference failed to conclude a protocol on cluster munitions, leaving the Convention on Cluster Munitions as the sole international instrument to specifically address the human suffering caused by these weapons. Since 2011, Pakistan has not proposed any new CCW work on cluster munitions. Pakistan’s disarmament representative, Ambassador Tehmina Janjua, is serving as president-designate of the CCW’s Fifth Review Conference to be held in Geneva in December 2016.

Pakistan also elaborated its views on the Convention on Cluster Munitions at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in November 2015, when it explained its reasons for abstaining from the first vote on a UNGA resolution on the convention. The non-binding resolution, which calls on states outside the convention to “join as soon as possible,” was subsequently adopted by 140 votes, including many non-signatories.[4]

According to a UN summary of the UNGA First Committee interventions, the representative said:[5]

Pakistan supports international efforts to address the issue of irresponsible and indiscriminate use of cluster munitions and as such welcomes efforts to mitigate their negative consequences. Pakistan has never used cluster munitions in any military conflict or internal operations and is strongly opposed to their use against civilians. Strict adherence to international humanitarian law would help address the humanitarian concerns arising from the indiscriminate use of cluster munitions. Pakistan also supports efforts to improve the reliability of cluster munitions so that the issue of explosive remnants of war is appropriately addressed.[6]

Its representative also stated that Pakistan does not support efforts to conclude important international treaties, especially those related to arms control, outside the UN framework and prefers the CCW framework as it “strikes a delicate balance between the need to minimize human suffering without sacrificing the legitimate security interests of States.”

Pakistan did not participate in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[7]

Pakistan’s did not attend any meetings of the Convention on Cluster Munitions until it participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2015 and then in the First Review Conference in September 2015.

Pakistan voted in favor of a UNGA resolution in December 2015 that expressed outrage at the continued use of cluster munitions in Syria.[8]

Pakistan is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Pakistan has stated several times that it has never used cluster munitions.[9] There is no public information available on the numbers of cluster munitions stockpiled by Pakistan, and limited information on types.

Pakistan has produced ground-delivered cluster munitions and air-dropped cluster bombs.

State-owned Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) has produced and offered for export M483A1 155mm artillery projectiles containing 88 M42/M46 dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions.[10] South Korean company Poongsan entered into a licensed production agreement with POF in 2004 to co-produce K-310 155mm extended-range DPICM projectiles in Pakistan at Wah Cantonment.[11] The Pakistani army took delivery of the first production lots in 2008.[12]

In September 2011, the London-based arms expo Defence & Security Equipment international (DSEi) closed the POF stand and Pakistan’s Defence Export Promotion Organisation pavilion after promotional material was found at both locations listing the 155mm extended range (base bleed) DPICM cluster munition available for sale.[13] Pakistani authorities reportedly said the cluster munitions were not offered for sale by Pakistan at DSEi.[14] Similar concerns were raised during the 2009 DSEi arms fair, when POF was found to be advertising the same 155mm extended range (base bleed) DPICM cluster munition.[15]

Jane’s Information Group reports that the Pakistan Air Weapons Center produces the Programmable Submunitions Dispenser (PSD-1), which is similar to the United States (US) Rockeye cluster bomb and dispenses 225 anti-armor submunitions. Jane’s Information Group states that the Pakistan National Development Complex produces and markets the Hijara Top-Attack Submunitions Dispenser (TSD-1) cluster bomb. It lists the Pakistan air force as possessing BL-755 cluster bombs.[16] The US transferred 200 Rockeye cluster bombs to Pakistan at some point between 1970 and 1995.[17]

As an interim step towards acceding to the convention, Human Rights Watch has urged Pakistan to institute a prohibition on the transfer of cluster munitions, as it has done with a long-standing export moratorium on antipersonnel landmines.[18] In June 2015, a government representative informed the Monitor that there are no plans to put in place an export moratorium on cluster munitions.[19]