Pakistan's fourth heavy water reactor at Khushab nuclear site which allows it to build a larger number of miniaturised plutonium-based nuclear weapons now appears to be operational, a US think-tank has said.
Pakistan is going ahead with the construction of its third heavy nuclear reactor at the Khushab site at a much faster pace, a Washington-based think tank has said.
Pakistan's election commission on Sunday declared the final result of Thursday's general elections in which independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party got the biggest piece of the cake by winning 101 seats.
Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme is expanding at a rapid pace and the country is expected to soon have a fourth operational reactor to ramp up the production of plutonium, according to a media report.
Pakistan appears to be building a new nuclear reactor to produce weapons-grade plutonium at Khushab in Punjab province, an American watchdog group has said citing satellite imagery.
Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme is considered to be among the fastest growing in the world by Stockholm-based International Peace Research Institute, with the estimates of Islamabad possessing 90-110 nuclear warheads.
Pakistani law enforcement agencies on Thursday recovered American national Dr Warren Weinstein from the kidnappers' custody from district of Khushab, some 160 kilometers from Lahore.
Pakistan has started construction of its fourth nuclear reactor at Khushab in Punjab province, signalling its ambitious effort to modernise and expand the nuclear arsenal.
A report by a Pakistani daily newspaper alleges that India, Israel and the US, among others, are using satellite technology to monitor sensitive areas in Pakistan.
Top United States nuclear scientists have shockingly revealed in a report that Pakistan is enhancing its nuclear weapons and production capabilities.According to the report, which is yet to enter the public domain, Pakistan is readying a new nuclear capable ballistic missile for deployment and two nuclear capable cruise missiles. It is believed that this secretive and substantial arsenal build-up is targeted at India.
The weapons are mostly relatively simple uranium arms with "modest" yields around the size of the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
'Satellite photos of Pakistan's Khushab nuclear site show what appears to be a partially completed heavy-water reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year, a 20-fold increase from its current capabilities.'
Pakistan's Ambassador to the US dismissed recent media reports on the nuclear reactor under construction at Khushab as being "grossly exaggerated."
'The new reactor could simply be a replacement for the existing one in Khushab,' the report said.
'If ever India loses its patience after repeated terror attacks and decides to retaliate against the terrorist camps, Pakistan may term that a conventional military attack and invoke the nuclear option. This is a way to continue with terrorism without retaliation.'
Serious question marks remain over how effectively, or whether at all, India can actually execute a disarming CF strike that takes out most of Pakistan's nukes, says Ajai Shukla.
China will be the nuclear threat of most concern to New Delhi for at least another decade, the latest report by the Arms Control Association says.
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