The issue of threshold states

The states which have not joined the Non-proliferation Treaty nor have undertaken any other internationally binding commitment not to develop or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons are considered a threshold states. Their nuclear status is rendered opaque as a conscious policy. Nuclear threshold status remains a key disarmament issue. For those few states, as India, Pakistan, Israel, who have put themselves in this position, the security returns have been transitory and largely illusory. The cost to them, and to the international community committed to the norm of non-proliferation, has been huge. The decisions which could lead to recovery from the situation in which they find themselves are essentially at their own hands. Whatever assistance the rest of international community is able to extend, it will need to be accompanied by a vital political signal