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A draft resolution on 'Conventional Arms Control at the Regional and Subregional Levels' was presented in the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
It was introduced by Pakistan and Belarus.
India and Israel were the only two countries that voted against the resolution. India argued that security concerns cannot be limited to regional and sub-regional boundaries.
This proposal of Pakistan and Belarus not only got the support of America and China but also India's traditional friend Russia.
In the 193-member UN body, 180 votes were cast in favor of this draft resolution, while two countries voted against it. No country abstained from voting.
Explaining the reason for India's opposition, Anmol Sher Bedi, First Secretary of India's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, said that control of conventional weapons is a global issue. He questioned whether the issue should be addressed primarily through regional and sub-regional frameworks.
Explaining the reasons for India's vote in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly, Bedi said, "We are not entirely convinced that this issue should be pursued primarily in the regional and sub-regional context."
Why did India protest?
India expressed concern over the suggestion in the resolution to entrust the UN Disarmament Commission with the responsibility of developing principles that would form the framework for regional agreements on conventional arms control.
Questioning the need for another round of discussions, Bedi said the commission has already reached consensus on three types of guidelines and recommendations related to regional disarmament and conventional arms control.
These include the Guidelines on Regional Disarmament adopted in 1993, Guidelines on Conventional Arms Control and Disarmament in 1999, as well as practical confidence-building measures in the field of conventional weapons in 2017.
Referring to the proposal to frame new guidelines, Bedi said, "We have viewed this request with some surprise."
"This means that the same Commission has already reached three unanimous conclusions on the same topic, but now the same Commission is being asked to work from scratch," he said.
Questioning the logic behind the resolution, Bedi said, "We are unable to understand why there is a need for another round of discussion on a topic that has already been discussed in detail, unless the purpose is to engage the UN disarmament system."
He said, "As is well known and there are many obvious reasons behind this, these concerns extend far beyond narrowly defined regions and sub-regions. More importantly, the concept of maintaining balance in any region or sub-region seems unrealistic."
Why did Russia support this proposal?
Russia's support cannot be seen as in favor of Pakistan and against India. His stance might be better understood as an endorsement of an old and widely supported proposal on gun control.
Russia had also supported the previous edition of this proposal in 2025. Therefore, this cannot be seen as any new change in its policy. However, no official explanation has been received as to why Russia supported the vote held on November 2, 2026.
Does Russia's vote mean it supports restrictions on India's defense deals? This cannot be said on the basis of available evidence.
In this draft resolution, neither any binding limit on arms has been set at the regional level, nor has there been any talk of restricting India's purchase of arms, nor has any arrangement been made to establish military equality between India and Pakistan. Its objective is to promote regional agreements through principles and dialogue.
This vote of Russia should also not be seen as evidence of its uniform stance on all issues related to arms control.
Supporting a general UN resolution and accepting sanctions under a specific, legally binding treaty are two different things.
While supporting countries support the principles of regional arms control, India believes that the framework of regional military balance cannot address its broader security needs.
What is said in the Pakistan supported resolution?
The draft resolution states that conventional arms control efforts should be carried out primarily through regional and sub-regional mechanisms. It argues that many of the current threats to international peace and security arise from tensions between neighboring countries.
The resolution calls for agreements aimed at strengthening regional security by keeping the number of weapons and military forces at the lowest possible level.
The proposal also assigns special responsibility to countries with greater military capabilities in advancing regional security arrangements.
It added that "Militarily important countries and countries with greater military capabilities have a special responsibility in promoting such agreements."
However, the main basis of India's objections was that security concerns cannot be addressed merely within territorial boundaries, especially when military capabilities and strategic interests extend beyond these boundaries.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry has issued a statement after the proposal was approved. In this statement, Pakistan has said, "The First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly approved Pakistan's proposals with overwhelming support." This shows that Pakistan's efforts related to arms control are getting support from the international community.
Pakistan said, "The resolution titled Confidence Building Measures in the Regional and Sub-regional Context was accepted without voting." At the same time, the resolution titled Control of conventional weapons at regional and sub-regional level was approved with an overwhelming majority of 180 votes. "We have been taking initiatives at the United Nations for decades to advance priority issues such as conventional arms control, confidence building measures and regional disarmament."
Pakistan is seeing this as its biggest success. Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the UN Tahir Andrabi wrote on Twitter, "We are pleased with the widespread support received by the three Pakistan-led resolutions in the First Committee of the UN General Assembly.
As President of the Conference of Disarmament, Pakistan also led the process of drafting and negotiating the report of the Conference on Disarmament. This resolution was passed with 135 countries voting in support. This is a strong affirmation of Pakistan's constructive leadership.
India also opposed separate mention of South Asia
Apart from voting against the entire resolution, India also voted against a specific paragraph dealing with the proposals related to conventional arms control in South Asia. According to the report of news agency PTI, India registered a separate negative vote on this paragraph.
In this paragraph, initiatives taken in various fields were mentioned. These included discussions among Latin American countries and proposals for conventional arms control in the context of South Asia.
It described these initiatives as relevant to broader efforts to promote regional stability by setting arms limits.
India opposed this paragraph on South Asia because it was in line with India's broader objections to the resolution promoting a regional approach to conventional arms control.
