Pakistan deeply concerned over building of secret nuclear city by India
8 hours ago BY Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has expressed serious concern over building of a secret nuclear city and development of inter-continental ballistic missiles by India.
Speaking at the weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said Indian measures would disturb strategic balance in the region.
According to the Foreign Office, India has regularly been conducting tests on inter-continental ballistic missiles. The spokesman was of the opinion that India was the greatest deterrent to peace in the region due to its warmongering tendencies and that Pakistan “remains committed to the principles of peaceful existence with all of its neighbours, including India.”
The new claims of India building a nuclear city come only a few days after the Pakistani foreign office had raised concerns regarding India’s supposed nuclear proliferation. Pakistan had proposed then that India’s entire civilian nuclear programme be brought under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Commission (IAEA).
READ MORE: ‘India’s nuclear programme be brought under IAEA safeguards.’
The alleged building of a nuclear city would mean that India would have an area free from any external observers and IAEA regulations, where it could, theoretically, be free to conduct tests and develop any equipment they see fit in the guise of a civilian project. The existence of such a closed-city would give weight to Pakistan’s demand for India’s civilian nuclear programme to be laid bare for the IAEA’s scrutiny.
The statement has come in after a couple of days when India was reported to have signed ‘emergency’ arms deals mainly with France, Russia and Israel worth at least INR 200 billion in last four months. The Indian air force has concluded 43 contracts worth Indian Rs 92 billion for jets including Mirage-2000s, MiG-29s and Sukoi-30MKIs, mid-air refuellers and Phalcon AWACS among others.
Meanwhile, India’s Finance Ministry announced ten percent increase in the fiscal budget for defence, Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley said that the budget was increased to Indian Rs 2.74 trillion compared to that reserved for the forces in 2016-17, Indian Rs 2.49 trillion.
The spokesman continued his weekly press conference by claiming India is funding terrorist activities in Pakistan. He said India is involved in acts of terrorism in Pakistan and Islamabad has provided evidence to the UN about Indian interference.
The spokesman also said India has not yet divulged any information regarding the 2007 Samjhota express blast which had killed 68 people. Pakistan had previously claimed the extremist Hindu organisation RHSS had been responsible for the attack, but India have yet to share any intelligence of the matter with their neighbouring country.
To a question, he said Pakistan itself is a victim of terror, and that the people of Pakistan and the state institutions have themselves been the target of terrorism.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/201...ver-building-of-secret-nuclear-city-by-india/
Here's complete article.
