Among Pakistan's neighbouring countries, India will be particularly vulnerable if Islamist terrorists and their Al Qaeda and Taliban brothers ever lay their hands on Pakistan's nuclear warheads as it is one of the nations that the Al Qaeda has named as an enemy. Being a contiguous land neighbour, it is also easier to target even if sophisticated delivery systems like ballistic missiles are not available
India's tactical and operational response demonstrated its ability to prosecute tri-service operations, even without a formal tri-service doctrine or the higher command structure needed to coordinate it, points out Ajai Shukla.
Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Saturday said India's Operation Sindoor has drawn a 'new red line' of intolerance against terror, and expressed hope that the military action has brought 'some lessons for our adversary also'.
In his message on the occasion of 'International Day Against Nuclear Tests', UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said "we urgently need new progress in achieving a world free of both nuclear tests and nuclear weapons," which are increasingly being viewed as "dangerous relics of the Cold War" and are "long overdue for permanent retirement".
'If Indian armed forces entered Pakistan and succeeded in inflicting major damage on the Pakistani army and occupied territory in the Pakistani heartland, there is reason to think the Pakistani military would use some nuclear weapons against the incoming Indian forces to compel India to stop.'
"We know that Pakistan matters not just because it is the location for the Afghanistan Taliban leadership; it is also important in its own right. It's the base for Al Qaeda, it is a nuclear weapons state with the long-term risk of radicalisation," Miliband said in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which had convened a special hearing on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
United States President Barack Obama on Tuesday warned that the threat of nuclear weapons remains a challenge as there are still "too many bad actors in search of these dangerous materials", asserting that the world's security depends on the actions that the global community takes.
A leading US daily describing nuclear-armed Pakistan as "unquestionably the biggest concern" to stability in South Asia.
The United States Air Force is testing 'weapons of tomorrow' including space weapons and an experimental microsatellite with the capability to disrupt other nations' military satellites.
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.
Even as the Obama administration has started pushing for the ambitious goal of complete elimination of nuclear weapons, United States' Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday said the US would maintain its nuclear deterrence.
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.
'When the war against Ukraine that Putin started is not going the way he was expecting it to and his military options are getting onerous, a bit of nuclear sabre rattling is what he hopes will turn things around for him and Russia.'
With this new induction, the country has the capability to launch nukes from land, air and sea.
The reported affirmative reply of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Fareed Zakaria's question whether India would be willing to sign the NPT (Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty) as a nuclear weapon state (NWS) has evoked some debate amongst the Indian security analyst community about the wisdom of such a move.
The United States Department of Defence has announced that it will pursue a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, designated the B61-13, pending Congressional authorisation and appropriation.
The bill clearly states what is required of India.
Security experts help Vicky Nanjappa debunk some of the nuclear fantasies woven by Indian Mujahideen chief Yasin Bhatkal
Biden's remarks could be seen as a setback to the Shehbaz Sharif government's bid to improve ties with the US.
The two countries, which possess nuclear weapons, are likely to discuss measures to boost confidence in each other and prevent any misunderstanding that may spark off a nuclear misadventure between them. Every year, both countries also exchange lists of nuclear installations in either country.
Pakistan-based Al Qaeda's senior leadership remained committed to acquiring weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons, a top Obama administration official said.
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.
"This administration will work toward a world without nuclear weapons and we will continue to maintain a safe, secure, and effective deterrent as we proceed toward that goal," Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, said.
A must read for a generation that grew up on his novels.
"Situation of weaponisation and associated dangers have not changed much from the cold war days," John Hallam, a veteran anti-nuclear weapon campaigner and Friends of Earth, Australia member said.
'It was India's good fortune to have a Vajpayee lead the government at this crucial moment in history.' 'By taking the N-decision he saved future generations of Indians from being 'Kosovoed' or 'Iraqed',' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Search giant Google has released satellite images of facilities at two Iranian cities that the United Nations claims may be used to develop nuclear weapons.
A top United States military official on Friday said that the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban leadership are trying to gain access to nuclear weapons.
'It couldn't have been otherwise. Libya lacked a sophisticated scientific infrastructure,' an Israeli intelligence source said.
India was forced to go nuclear and develop ballistic missiles to strike a balance of power in the region as "big nations" around the country were armed with atomic weapons, former President A P J Abdul Kalam said on Thursday.
China has secretly entered into an agreement with Pakistan to construct a third nuclear reactor at Chashma in Punjab province that the Obama administration says will violate Beijing's promises under an international anti-nuclear weapons accord, a media report said.
Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2010, a leading international think-tank has warned. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Iran will amass enough low-enriched uranium this year which could put it on course to build a nuke weapon by the end of the next year, The Daily Telegraph reported.
China, one of the five recognised nuclear powers, on Tuesday said it has never engaged in proliferation, days after Pakistan's disgraced scientist A Q Khan claimed his country had helped it in enrichment technology in return for atomic bomb blue-prints.
This is in contrast to India, where the control is with the civilian authority headed by prime minister.
Meanwhile, South Korea will convene an emergency meeting of top officials after the North Korean threat, news agencies reported.
He was also opposed to displacement of communities as a whole and their replacement by others and sought to differentiate between Zionism and Jews.
Ahead of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to United States in October, the United States is negotiating a pact on the new limits on Pakistan's nuclear weapons and delivery systems, a deal which might lead to an agreement that is similar to the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, according to a media report.
Pakistan, with some help from China, will demand its share in the changing nuclear order.
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