Pakistan has claimed that New Delhi has built a “secret nuclear city”, and has accumulated enough nuclear weapons to “undermine” strategic balance of power in the region.
Islamabad also lamented that India had upset the balance of power by testing its intercontinental ballistic missiles. The comments came from country’s foreign office spokesperson during the weekly news briefing on Thursday.
The remarks come as India reportedly actively considers bringing back its Cold Start War Doctrine, a military strategy that aims at containing Pakistan’s nuclear response in case of war with India. Critics of Cold Start, which reportedly included former US President Barack Obama, claim that the doctrine was responsible for stepping up arms race in the South Asian region. Newly sworn-in Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat, during an interview last month, had said that Cold Start still existed for “conventional military operations.”
A last year study published by the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad claimed that India had enough material and capacity to make “between 356 and 492 nuclear bombs,” as reported in Karachi-based Dawn newspaper.
The south Asian country’s foreign office also demanded that India bring its entire nuclear programme under international-mandated safeguards.
Both India and Pakistan have refused to sign the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty, which aims at controlling the spread of nuclear weapons.
According to some estimates, Pakistan possesses between 110-130 nuclear weapons as compared to India’s 100-120.
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