Target India: ‘Pakistan expanding nuclear arsenal’

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme is mainly aimed to address the threat perception it has from India.

WASHINGTON:
Pakistan is making qualitative and quantitative improvements to its nuclear arsenal and “could increase the number of circumstances under which it would be willing to use nuclear weapon,” a US Congressional report has claimed. “Pakistan appears to be increasing its fissile production capability and improving its delivery vehicles in order to hedge against possible increases in India’s nuclear arsenal. Islamabad may also accelerate its current nuclear weapons efforts,” the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS) said in a report prepared for US lawmakers. CRS claims that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme is mainly aimed to address the threat perception it has from India.


Published in The Express Tribune, August 10th, 2012.