ISLAMABAD, February 9: India has accumulated a stockpile of nuclear weapons which threatens to undermine the strategic balance of power in the region, the Foreign Office (FO) said in its weekly briefing on Thursday.
FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria claimed India has also built a “secret nuclear city”.
He said India has been conducting tests on inter-continental missiles. Steps such as these, he said, are impacting the existing balance of power in the region.
“Pakistan remains committed to the principles of peaceful existence with all of its neighbours, including India,” he said.
He said India had been “exposed” by the failure of its efforts to isolate Pakistan, adding that the Indian government should reciprocate the steps taken by Pakistan for peace.
A study published by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad last year indicated that India has sufficient material and the technical capacity to produce between 356 and 492 nuclear bombs.
Pakistan earlier this week said it wants India to bring its entire civilian nuclear programme under the safeguards laid out by the International Atomic Energy Commission.
There is a fear that the Indian reactors not mandated by the safeguards might be used clandestinely for plutonium production and the existing stockpiles might be diverted to a military programme at a subsequent stage, DG Disarmament at the Foreign Office Kamran Akhtar said.
The FO spokesman said Pakistan has repeatedly sought details of probe into the deadly 2007 Samjhota Express bombing but India has not responded.
He claimed that activists of the rightwing Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were behind the train tragedy which killed 68 people. “Swami Aseemanand [of the RSS] publicly claimed to have been been involved in the incident.” Zakaria said the new US administration has assured that it is not taking any special steps regarding Pakistanis travelling to the US.
“The Trump administration has clarified that the visa restrictions do not apply on Pakistani citizens.” He said the US embassy has also issued a detailed statement iterating the same. Pakistan is determined to bring lasting peace in Afghanistan and supports all steps taken in this direction, the FO spokesman said. He said the same commitment had been expressed at the Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar last year Pakistan condemns in strongest terms the killing of six Afghan employees of the Red Cross in northern Afghanistan.-Agencies
