Islamabad hits back after Indian defence minister says Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal should be under UN surveillance.
India and Pakistan have traded accusations of nuclear weapons mismanagement, days after reaching a truce following four days of cross-border fighting.
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh questioned the safety of nuclear weapons in Pakistan on Thursday at an army base in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, calling the neighbouring country an “irresponsible and rogue nation”.
“I believe that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons should be taken under the supervision of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” Singh said.
In response to the minister’s comments, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Singh had revealed his “profound insecurity and frustration regarding Pakistan’s effective defence and deterrence”.
“The comments of India’s Defence Minister also show his sheer ignorance of the mandate and responsibilities of a specialised agency of the United Nations like the IAEA,” it read.
“If anything, the IAEA and the international community should be worried about the repeated theft and illicit trafficking incidents involving nuclear and radioactive material in India,” the statement added.
The UN nuclear watchdog monitors countries that have nuclear weapons to ensure that they are peaceful.
Under a 2008 agreement, the IAEA monitors several Indian civilian nuclear facilities.
‘Nuclear blackmail’
After conducting tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998, India and Pakistan became nuclear powers, making the region one of the world’s dangerous nuclear flashpoints.
Last week, the two countries traded intense missile and drone attacks, leaving nearly 70 people dead.
The fighting followed an April 22 rebel attack on Pahalgam, in Indian-administered Kashmir, that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan – an accusation Islamabad denied.
On Saturday, United States President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire agreement as world powers urged the two nuclear powers to avoid escalating tensions.
While the ceasefire is currently holding, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that India would strike at militant hideouts across the border again if there were new attacks on India and would not be deterred by what he referred to as Islamabad’s “nuclear blackmail”.
However, Pakistan rejected Modi’s statements as being “provocative and inflammatory assertions”, saying they represents a dangerous escalation.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, police in Indian-administered Kashmir said they killed three suspected fighters in the town of Tral, in Pulwama district south of Srinagar.
Police also said three other suspected fighters died in a gun battle with soldiers on Tuesday in the southern Kashmir valley.