Foreign Office on Thursday cautioned the world to take notice of India's "secret nuclear city" being built for production of thermonuclear weapons, which will not only undermine the regional strategic balance of power but will also endanger peace of the region and beyond. During his weekly media briefing, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said that Indian defence build-up, both nuclear and conventional, is a direct threat to Pakistan and the region at large.
He said that India completed its plan of nuclear triad recently with the commissioning of nuclear submarines, adding it has also been building inter-continental ballistic missiles and anti-ballistic missile system. "It [India] has stockpile of fissile material for producing nuclear weapons outside the IAEA safeguards. It is also building a secret nuclear city in South India which, according to Foreign Policy investigative report, is to produce thermonuclear weapons," he added.
With conventional weapons balance already disturbed, Zakaria said that India's nuclear weapons build-up has dangerous proportions to tips the strategic balance and endanger the peace of the region and beyond. "The perils of such an uncalled-for defence build-up should be seen in the backdrop of Indian Defence Minister's statement on reviewing the 'nuclear no-first use' and admission by the Indian Army Chief about their 'Cold Start doctrine,' which confirmed Pakistan's claims and justified our credible minimum nuclear deterrence," he said, adding international community should take note and check Indian rapid expansion in conventional and nuclear weapons.
To a question about the US new visa policy and Adviser to the Prime Minister Sartaj Aziz's likely visit to Washington for confidence building between the two countries, the spokesperson said that Pakistan and the US do have regular high-level exchanges and "we look forward to maintaining the momentum in our exchanges."