ABSTRACT
The Kargil crisis demonstrated that international concerns about regional stability were by no means misplaced. However, dilemmas and challenges remain which could impede progress towards meeting the benchmarks identified by the UN Security Council in June 1998. Since neither India nor Pakistan is party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, their tests did not contravene international law. Both India and Pakistan have a number of civil nuclear reactors which are not subject to International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, and which are neither efficient nor safe. Both India and Pakistan need to be more closely engaged in the international arms-control regime, but without undermining the regime itself in the process. India and Pakistan's control of exports of sensitive materials and technology is essential to prevent other states from developing nuclear weapons, and to maintain global non-proliferation efforts. Since independence, India and Pakistan have periodically sought to improve relations, but progress has been disappointing.
