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India Worried About Pakistani Nuke Arsenal Defenses
India’s defense chief on Wednesday voiced worries about the defenses of nuclear weapons in rival Pakistan following a militant siege this week of a naval base in Karachi, Reuters reported (see GSN, May 24).
“Naturally it is a concern not only for us but for everybody,” Defense Minister A.K. Antony said on the question of whether the assault by a minimum of six Pakistani Taliban fighters on the Mehran Naval Station had raised doubts about the security of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal, the Press Trust of India reported.
“Our services are taking all precautions and are ready round-the-clock. But at the same time we don’t want to overreact,” Antony said.
Though estimates vary, recent analyses indicate Islamabad could hold more than 110 nuclear weapons. The country’s is viewed as having the world’s fastest growing nuclear arsenal.
Some defense authorities have said the Sunday siege could have involved insiders at the base, renewing worries about Pakistani military personnel who might have extremist affinities (see GSN, Jan. 11; Reuters, May 25).
Separately, not long before he became Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari in 2008 told U.S. envoys he supported providing U.N. investigators access to nuclear scientist and proliferator Abdul Qadeer Khan, Asian News International reported on Wednesday (see GSN, May 25).
The United States has long pressed for access to Khan, Pakistan’s former top nuclear weapons scientist who in 2004 confessed to exporting nuclear technology and information to Iran, Libya and Read more…
‘Drone strike’ kills several in Pakistan
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| The high number of civilian casualties in drone attacks have caused anger in Pakistan [File:EPA] |
At least five people have been killed after a suspected US drone fired two missiles into a vehicle in Pakistan’s North Waziristan, local security officials say.
Thursday’s raid was the third such attack reported in the tribal district near the Afghan border, which Washington has dubbed the global headquarters of al-Qaeda, since US commandos killed the group’s leader, Osama bin Laden, in a Pakistani city near Islamabad.
“A US drone fired two missiles on a militants’ vehicle in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan,” one Pakistani security official told the news agency AFP. “Five militants were killed.”
Another local official confirmed the strike and the toll, saying: “The target was a pick-up van.”
Intelligence reports from the area said the dead included “foreigners” – a term normally used for Afghan Taliban, Uzbek fighters or Read more…
Indian Opposition Leader Urges Change to “No-First-Use” Policy
A senior member of India’s main political opposition party on Tuesday called for changing the nation’s longstanding policy of “no-first-use” of its nuclear arsenal, the Indian Express reported (see GSN, Nov. 1, 2010).
(Mar. 16) – Indian Bharitaya Janata Party lawmaker Jaswant Singh, shown last year, on Tuesday urged his country to alter its “no-first-use” nuclear weapons policy (Farooq Naeem/Getty Images).
“I am of the view that the policy-framework that the [National Democratic Alliance] devised in 1998 is very greatly in need of revision because the situation that warranted the enunciation of the policy of ‘no-first-use’ or ‘nonuse against non-nuclear weapons [states],’ ‘credible deterrence with minimum force,’ etc. has long been overtaken by Read more…
Zardari to seek nuclear technology cooperation with Japan
TOKYO: President Asif Ali Zardari said Monday that since Japan was negotiating a deal with India to cooperate on peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the similar cooperation should be extended to his country.
“If Japan is willing to cooperate with India in nuclear technology and (is) giving nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, I do not see any reason why we should not deserve the same,” Zardari said in an interview with the Japanese media in Islamabad ahead of his departure for a three-day visit to Japan, published in leading Read more…
Pakistan successfully test fires Hatf-VII missile
Pakistan successfully test fires Hatf-VII missile
The missile can carry conventional and other warheads, the ISPR said. — Photo by AFP (File)
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military says it has successfully test-fired a cruise missile capable of carrying ”strategic and conventional” war heads.
An army statement says the Hatf-VII or Babur missile, which has a range of 360 miles (600 kilometers), was test-fired from an undisclosed location Thursday. The statement did not specifically say if the missile could carry nuclear warheads.
Senior army officials and scientists attended the testing.
Pakistan and its nuclear-armed rival neighboring India routinely test different versions of their missiles. The two countries have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947. – AP
APP adds:
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, officers and scientists witnessed the test.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani congratulated the scientists and engineers for successfully conducting the test.
Analysis: Why Pakistan wants to expand its nuclear arsenal
Rob Crilly, The Daily Telegraph
Pakistan is desperate to increase the size of its nuclear arsenal as it eyes India’s rapidly growing economy and population.
Although the numbers of weapons held by either country are small in comparison, the result of the nuclear competition between the two countries is reminiscent of the Cold War arms race between the U.S. and USSR.
In India’s case, the perceived threat is China. For Pakistan, the presumed enemy is India. Paranoia is driving the acceleration of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. Read more…
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