The United States and the world community are aware that Pakistan's nuclear installations are well secured, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told the media. Pakistanis are a progressive and moderate nation and there is no question of nuclear installations or materials falling into the hands of militants, he said.
It was prompted by the discovery that Pakistan may have been the source of crucial technology for Iran's secret nuclear programme.
To enhance its nuclear capability, Pakistan is developing non-strategic nuclear weapons and thus joining the ranks of countries like the United States and Russia, a leading American think-tank has said.
India has decided to buy sophisticated equipment worth Rs 2000 crore to counter nuclear, biological, and chemical terrorism and covert attacks.
The Pakistani authorities have deployed large contingents of soldiers and policemen at one of the country's largest nuclear facilities in Dera Ghazi Khan following 'serious' threats from the local Taliban, a media report said on Thursday.
The US had lost communication with nearly 50 intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles, one-ninth of its arsenal for 45 minutes over the weekend, even as defence officials said that there were no chance of an accidental launch or foul play, a media report said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday in an interview to the Japanese media in Tokyo that India is confident of signing a 'win-win' civilian nuclear deal with Japan and is looking forward to a comprehensive economic partnership agreement to boost bilateral trade.
Amid global fears that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal may fall into the hands of terrorists, Army Chief General V K Singh says concern remains over this aspect but he feels these weapons are secure. "Probably Pakistan also has (such concerns) and they are taking extra measures....I don't think, there is any reason to say things are not secure. Things are secure," the Army Chief told PTI in an interview.
Former Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who was the star diplomat in the Bush Administration who negotiated the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, has rubbished Pakistan's request for a similar accord saying the A Q Khan network was the mother of all nuclear technology proliferators and said Pakistan's concerns over India's involvement in Afghanistan are over-rated.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Thursday asked Iran to build "international confidence" in its nuclear programme by fully complying with the global obligations under NPT and cooperating with IAEA, shortly after Tehran slammed the UNSC for being "unjust and completely undemocratic".
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also discounted the possibility of midterm polls to the Lok Sabha in the wake of differences with the supporting Left parties on the deal.
The president said Syria did not know if it was an Israeli trap and refused the offer.
Iran has accelerated its nuclear programme and currently possesses sufficient supply of uranium to make three nuclear devices, a United Nations nuclear watchdog report claimed.
The NFUP smacks of an extremist version of masochism. It's tantamount to: You, there, c'mon clobber me, but if you leave me alive I'll disembowel you!
China was forthcoming and supportive of international civil nuclear energy cooperation with India as the two countries affirmed their readiness to take their strategic and cooperative partnership to a new level at the ASEAN summit in Singapore on Wednesday.
''A story in the New York Times gave a distorted and exaggerated picture of our efforts to learn from best practices of other countries with regard to their nuclear safety and export controls,'' foreign ministry spokesman Muhammad Sadiq said
Paving the way for early enactment of nuclear liability law, a Parliamentary Committee on Wednesday presented its report that addresses major concerns of the Bharatiya Janata Party as it recommended provision for "clear-cut" accountability of suppliers for any mishap involving an atomic plant.
Claiming that the Nuclear Suppliers Group had 'reneged' on its waiver on nuclear fuel supply to India, Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of betraying the nation on the Indo-US nuke deal and asked him to clarify how it is beneficial to the country.
Stockpiles of the nations that are not recognised as nuclear weapon states under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -- India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea -- are minuscule in comparison with those of Russia and the United States.
Reports from Vienna said that China was leading the opposition to India's membership. Turkey, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa and Austria are said to be backing the Chinese stand.
The Parliamentary panel examining the controversial nuclear liability bill is expected to finalise its report in time for introduction of the draft legislation during the monsoon session beginning July 26. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology, Environment on Forests is examining the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010 that was introduced in the Lok Sabha on May 7 amid stiff resistance from a united Opposition.
Saudi Arabia has invested in Pakistani nuclear weapons projects and believes it could acquire atomic bombs "at will", the BBC reported on Thursday.
'The 123 Agreement is open to different interpretations, but it has enough ambiguities there to operate in our interest. The withdrawal clauses in the Agreement are a masterpiece in drafting.'
The military described the test of the "indigenously developed short range, surface-to-surface multi-tube missile Hatf-IX" or Nasr as successful.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Karunanidhi has summoned all DMK MPs in Chennai on Tuesday, to discuss the nuke liability bill, common enterance test for medical students other political issues affecting the state.
In the letter, they have demanded the halting of the construction of the plant claiming that it violated the International Atomic Energy Agency safety guidelines as 'the nuclear plant is in a tsunami and earthquake prone region, which has also experienced small volcanic eruptions and is affected by water shortages".
The defence minister recalled that Musharraf had retracted a similar statement made earlier following international condemnation.
The prime focus of the hearing is to review the findings of International Institute for Strategic Studies about the Khan cartel
Victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, described as one of the world's worst-ever industrial disasters, have filed a Right to Information petition with the prime minister's office in New Delhi.The RTI plea wants to know whether the Central government took into consideration the disaster of gas leak at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal in 1984 while drafting the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill with the United States.
Pakistan has raised a 20,000 strong force to provide foolproof security to its nuclear weapons and strategic assets, the military said in Islamabad on Thursday.
Implementation of civil nuclear cooperation and ways to expand cooperation in the fields of defence, security and economy will be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets President Barack Obama in Washington next week.
The government refuted the charge that the Nuclear Liability Bill was being brought under foreign pressure and said it is willing to refer the measure to a Parliamentary Standing Committee for scrutiny on Thursday.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam President M Karunanidhi on Tuesday slammed Sri Lanka for raking up the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project issue, saying India "will do what is required."
"China's cooperation with Pakistan in nuclear power is for peaceful means and is supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency, (IAEA). The US always questions Pakistan's nuclear activities, but how about its latest nuclear deal with India," Chinese newspaper Global Times quoted He Maochun, director of the Research Centre for Economic Diplomacy Studies of Tsinghua University, as probing.
In the backdrop of fears about terrorists gaining access to nuclear material, leaders from 47 countries, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Monday assembled in Washington to discuss ways to ensure that such a scenario was averted. At the two-day summit, which is an initiative of United States President Barack Obama, India is expected to voice its concern over the safety of Pakistan's atomic arsenal.
India on Wednesday inducted the Russian-origin nuclear-powered submarine 'Nerpa' into the Navy, joining the elite league of nations having such sophisticated warships.
US President Barack Obama on Sunday asked Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attacks to justice, saying this would help improve the security situation in the region. Obama also did not commit any civilian nuclear deal with Pakistan on the lines of that of India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Washington on Sunday, on a four-day visit during which he will attend the Nuclear Security Summit on Monday and meet President Barack Obama and some other world leaders. At the Nuclear Summit to be attended by leaders of 46 other countries also, Singh is expected to pitch for firm response to the challenges of proliferation and possibility of terrorists gaining access to atomic material.
The delay in the Nuclear Liability Bill, which has faced vehement protests by the Opposition in Parliament, has become a worrying factor for United States business and industry circles.
The manner in which India and Pakistan have pursued atomic weapons has 'upset the balance of nuclear deterrence', United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday, asserting that the US is working hard with both countries to try to limit their number of nuclear stockpiles.
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