Report: Pakistani nukes surest route to nuclear war
What's the story
The US-based think tank Atlantic Council has identified Pakistan's tactical nuclear weapons (TNW) programme as a danger to the safety and security of the South Asian region. The council's 'Asia in the Second Nuclear Age' report states that such weapons are also the surest way of escalating conventional war towards a nuclear threshold. It says Pakistan hasn't yet operationalized its TNW plans. Here's more.
21 Sep 2017
Pakistani PM asserts that nukes are safe and secure
On September 21, Pakistani PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said his country is developing short-range tactical nuclear weapons to deter India's 'cold start doctrine.' He asserted that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is safe and secure. He said no extremist or any other element "can gain control of fissile material or a nuclear weapon." He said Pakistan's civilian leadership, not military, has control over the nuclear weapons.
Unsafe
Pakistan nuclear weapon installations are not secure, have been attacked
The report states that the development of large and diversified nuclear weapons themselves don't pose the greatest threat to the region. It's the security apparatus entrusted with protecting them that is the major concern. Some Pakistani military installations which likely store nuclear weapons have come under in the past attack with insider help. The "future stability of Pakistan remains a wild card."
Quote
Fears that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could be stolen
"The possibility that Pakistan's nuclear weapons could be stolen or that schisms in Pakistan's military might cause nuclear command-and-control failures is not as fantastic as it once seemed," the report notes.
Explained
India-China lack capability to launch nuclear first-strikes
The report notes that in the wider Indo-Pacific scenario, India and Pakistan are novice developers of nuclear weapons as their warheads are first-generation fission weapons. It said China "is the only nuclear power among the three that is actually modernizing, i.e., replacing aging delivery systems with newer and better designs." Additionally, neither India nor China has the technological prowess to execute nuclear first-strikes.