The United Nations General Assembly’s First Committee on Tuesday approved a resolution tabled by Pakistan and Belarus on conventional arms control at the regional and sub-regional levels, with a large majority of 180 votes in the 193-member body. Only India and Israel voted against the text. The United States, China and Russia were among those that voted in favour.
The draft focuses on advancing control of conventional weapons—arms other than nuclear, chemical or biological weapons—mainly through regional and sub-regional arrangements. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry later said the First Committee had endorsed its proposals with strong backing and that the outcome reflected international support for Pakistan’s efforts on arms control.
What the resolution seeks
The draft argues that efforts on conventional arms control should move forward chiefly through regional and sub-regional mechanisms. It links many current threats to international peace and security to tensions between neighbouring states.
It calls for agreements aimed at keeping numbers of weapons and troops at the lowest possible levels so that regional security is strengthened. It also assigns a special responsibility to major states and countries with greater military capabilities to promote such arrangements.
Pakistan said a related resolution, on confidence-building measures in regional and sub-regional contexts, was adopted without a vote, while the conventional arms control text cleared the committee with the 180-vote majority. Islamabad has long treated such initiatives as part of its disarmament diplomacy at the United Nations.
Why India voted no
India and Israel were the only two countries to cast negative votes. India’s permanent mission argued that security concerns cannot be confined to the regional or sub-regional level alone. First Secretary Anmol Sher Bedi said conventional arms control is a global issue and questioned whether it should be addressed primarily through a regional and sub-regional framework.
“We are not fully convinced that this issue should primarily be advanced through a regional and sub-regional lens,” Bedi said, explaining India’s vote in the First Committee.
New Delhi also voiced concern about tasking the UN Disarmament Commission—the UN body that develops disarmament guidelines—with drawing up principles for a framework of regional agreements on conventional arms control. India’s delegate said the commission had already reached consensus on related guidance, including regional disarmament guidelines adopted in 1993, conventional arms control and disarmament guidelines from 1999, and practical confidence-building measures in the conventional field adopted in 2017.
That, the Indian side argued, meant three agreed outcomes already exist in the same commission, yet it was being asked to begin work afresh. Bedi said India could not see why another round of debate was needed on a subject already discussed in detail, unless the aim was merely to keep the UN disarmament machinery occupied.
India’s broader objection was that security worries cannot be settled only inside regional borders, especially when military capabilities and strategic interests stretch beyond those borders.
What the vote does—and does not—do
The draft does not set binding regional ceilings on weapons, does not restrict India’s arms purchases, and does not create a mechanism for military parity between India and Pakistan. Its stated aim is to encourage regional agreements grounded in principles and dialogue.
Supporting the General Assembly text is not the same as accepting legally binding limits under a specific treaty. Countries that voted yes were backing the principle of regional conventional arms control; India held that a regional military-balance frame would not meet its wider security needs.
Russia’s yes vote fits a longer pattern of support for this widely backed arms-control proposal: Moscow also backed the previous version of the resolution in 2025, so the latest ballot is not presented as a sudden policy shift. No official Russian explanation of the recent vote was issued. On the available evidence, the vote cannot be read as Russian support for restrictions on India’s defence deals.
Aasan alfaaz mein
United Nations mein Pakistan aur Belarus ki aik resolution pass ho gayi hai jo ilaqai level par mamooli (conventional) hathiyaron ke control ke bare mein hai. Is ke khilaf sirf India aur Israel ne vote diya; America, China aur Russia ne support kiya. Resolution hathiyaron ki koi hard limit ya India ki kharidari par bandish nahi lagati—yeh baat cheet aur usoolon ke zariye ilaqai muahidon ko badhawa dena chahti hai. Pakistan is vote ko apni disarmament diplomacy ke liye bari himayat samajhta hai.
