NPT blackmail

This refers to the news report, ‘World powers, Iran strike deal’ (July 15). After crippling sanctions and intense negotiations of 13 years, Iran has finally been able to reach an agreement with the world powers on its nuclear programme.
The sanctions had almost crippled the Iranian economy in spite of their huge oil reserves. These were imposed on Iran despite the country being a signatory to the NPT. If Iran could be so severely punished for its nuclear programme which they always claimed to be entirely for peaceful purposes, one can imagine what would have happened to us if we had signed the NPT instead of going nuclear. Pakistan with its fragile economy and almost negligible foreign exchange reserves would not have been able to sustain even one year of similar severe sanctions. Our nuclear explosions led to some sanctions for a few years by some countries but these were lifted shortly. Had we signed the NPT as was advised by some of our western friends we would have become highly vulnerable to blackmail – by the Indians as well as by others.
Brig (r) Naeem Ahmad Khawaja
Lahore