Author: PTI
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: January 31, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/314406/Pak-doubled-N-stockpile-to-edge-ahead-of-India-US-Report.html
Pakistan has doubled its nuclear arms stockpile
to 110 warheads, developing new weapons to deliver them and significantly
accelerating production of uranium and plutonium for bombs to edge ahead of
India.
Islamabad's nuclear weapons stockpile now
totals more than 110 deployed weapons in a sharp jump from an estimated 30-80
weapons fours years ago, 'Washington Post' reported.
"Pakistan has expanded its nuclear weapons
production capability rapidly", the Post quoted David Albright President
of the Institute for Science and International Security as saying.
Albright said that based on accelerated production
of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, Pakistan may now have an arsenal
upto 110 weapons.
The non-government US analyst said that while
continuing to produce weapons-grade uranium at two sites, Islamabad has sharply
increased its production of plutonium, enabling it to make lighter warheads
for more mobile delivery system.
Pakistan's has developed a new missile Shaheen
II, with a range of 1,500 miles which is about to go into operation deployment.
The country has also developed nuclear capable land and air launched cruise
missiles, the Institute said in a new report.
"The Pakistanis have significantly accelerated
production of uranium and plutonium for bombs and developed new weapons to
deliver them. After years of approximate weapons parity, experts said, Pakistan
has now edged ahead of India, its nuclear-armed rival", Washington Post
said.
The paper said while Pakistan has produced
more nuclear-armed weapons, India is believed to have larger existing stockpiles
of such fissile material for future weapons.
Dubbing Pakistan as one of the world's most
unstable region, Post said an escalation of nuclear arms race in South Asia
possess a dilemma for Obama Administration.
It said in politically fragile Pakistan, the
Administration is caught between fears of proliferation or possible terrorist
attempts to seize nuclear materials and Pakistani suspicions that the US aims
to control or limit its weapons programme and favours India.
Quoting Pakistan's Defense attache at its
embassy in Washington, Post said the number of Pakistani nuclear weapons are
heavily deployed near its border with India.
The paper said that in December 2008, Peter
Lavoie, US national intelligence officer for South Asia, told NATO officials
that "despite pending economic catastrophe, Pakistan is producing nuclear
weapons at a faster rate than in any other country in the world".
