Pak nukes may go to terrorists: US study
The prestigious Harvard Kennedy School released a report stating that there is a high risk of Pakistan's nuclear weapons falling into the hands of extremists. The report, titled 'Preventing Nuclear Terrorism: Continuous Improvement or Dangerous Decline?' was released ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. The report also warned that a possible collapse of the Pakistan government could not be ruled out.
Pakistan had started its nuclear program on 20 January 1972 under the then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in response to India's development of its nuclear programme in 1967. Pak conducted its first successful nuclear weapon test 28 May 1988 becoming the seventh country in the world to successfully develop and test nuclear weapons. The country's Shaheen-III had a maximum missile range of 2,750km.
A US think tank had said that Pakistan's nuclear programme was growing the fastest. It claimed that the country would be able to produce 200 nuclear weapons by 2020. The report said that Pakistan was developing 11 delivery systems for its nuclear warheads, including aircraft, and cruise missiles. The Islamic nation's concern was that US may launch military operation to disarm its nuclear weapons.
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, a nontechnical online magazine had claimed through an infographic that Pakistan had 120 nuclear weapons, while India had 110. The infographic also said that there were 65,000 nuclear weapons in 1980, but the number had reduced to about 10,000 in 2015. According to it, US and Russia possessed 5000 weapons each, while France and China had 300 and 250 respectively.
Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf accused India of hostile behavior. Musharraf said that India had a preplanned strategy to denuclearize Pakistan. He said that Pakistan did not wish to use nuclear weapons but if India became a threat to Pakistan's existence, they would be forced to use them. The Former President had asked Pakistan's PM Sharif to respond to India's threat aggressively.
The Obama government was exploring a deal to limit Pakistan's nuclear weapons. America was concerned that Pakistan might be on the verge of deploying a small tactical nuclear weapon. Experts expressed their skepticism that Pakistan is ready to put any such limitation on nuclear weapons. They said that Pakistan considered nukes their national pride and the only defence against India in case of war.
Pakistan had denied that any deal to limit their nuclear weapons was being made with US. Foreign office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah said that US had not made any such demands. Sharif said to a newspaper that his policies were directed at preserving, protecting and promoting Pakistan's national interests. He claimed he would not accept any such demands from any country.
Ahead of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's meet with US President Barack Obama on October 21, Pakistan defended their development and deployment of tactical battlefield nuclear weapons. They said it was aimed at preventing any traditional attack through New Delhi's so-called ''Cold Start'' doctrine. Pakistan's foreign secretary had blamed India for creating a gap in the traditional capabilities of the two countries.
Cold Start is a military doctrine developed by the Indian Armed Forces for use in a possible war with Pakistan. It involves the various branches of India's military conducting offensive operations as part of unified battle groups.
The US asked Pakistani officials to reduce the country's growing nuclear arsenal; however, Islamabad refused to accept any curbs citing Pakistan's regional constraints. Citing the example of the US and Russia which are working to further reduce their nuclear arsenals, John Kerry asked Pakistani officials to review its nuclear policy. Pakistan added that any proposal for nuclear arms reduction should include India as well.
