US President Barack Obama has said terrorist organisations like Al Qaeda are aiming at laying their hands on nuclear weapons, which would be catastrophic for the world.
In its 28-page report, the CRS noted that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking military action against it, but Islamabad's expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new types of nuclear weapons and adoption of a doctrine called "full spectrum deterrence" have led some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal.
India needs to be technologically and militarily prepared to defend itself from both Pakistan and China, alerts Ramesh Menon.
'When human beings develop these dangerous toys and leave their control in the hands of aggressive megalomaniac politicians, the threat of a nuclear holocaust is always lurking on the horizon.'
'In this regard, the future stability of Pakistan remains a wild card,' said the report.
'Only when India's adversaries are convinced that India has both the necessary political and military will and the hardware to respond to a nuclear strike with punitive retaliation that will inflict unacceptable loss of human life and unprecedented material damage, will they be deterred,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Estimated to have more nuclear weapons than India, Pakistan is rapidly developing and expanding its atomic arsenal, spending about $2.5 billion a year to develop such weapons, a report has said.
Former NSA Shivshankar Menon said the defence minister did not have a right to voice his personal opinion on nuclear policy in public, particularly when that opinion contradicted the country's official policy.
By threatening to punish India with high tariff, Trump is actually planting a tantalising thought in the Indian mind that the Modi government should suitably 'incentivise' him, explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The report said that Pakistan will retain its capabilities for the foreseeable future as a necessary deterrent against perceived existential threats from India.
Pakistan launched its nuclear weapons programme after its 1971 military defeat to India in order to 'augment its inferior conventional forces,' a Congressional report has said."Pakistan's nuclear energy programme dates back to the 1950s, but it was the loss of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in a bloody war with India that probably triggered a political decision in January 1972 (just one month later) to begin a secret nuclear weapons programme," the Congressional report said.
The US president said new sanctions would be imposed, adding 'America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail'.
Congressional report estimated Pakistan's nuclear warheads to be between 110-130.
Expressing concern over the continuing buildup of nuclear weapons in South Asia, the United States has asked India and Pakistan to restrain their atomic and missile programmes and play a positive role in the global non-proliferation community.
After the terror attack on Mumbai in November last year exposed the vulnerability of the Indian coastline, Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta on Wednesday said cargo containers could be used to transport nuclear weapons."We have to ensure 100 per cent security at ports by scanning them (containers) under X-ray machines. Every country has to accede to it that wherever, whichever port the container leaves from, that country certifies that this container is fully secure," he said.
Senator John Cornyn, Senate Majority Whip for the 114th Congress, in a letter to Obama, has said "it is ill-advised" to pursue any civil nuclear agreement with Pakistan.
"We estimate that Pakistan now has a nuclear weapons stockpile of 130-140 warheads. This stockpile exceeds the projection made by the US Defense Intelligence Agency in 1999 that Pakistan by 2020 would have 60-80 warheads," said the report released last month.
North Korea will not use nuclear weapons against other nations unless its sovereignty is threatened, its leader Kim Jong-un has said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the world has seen the power of India's indigenous weapons during Operation Sindoor, which is 'not over yet'.
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'.
'He is not that crazy.' 'He is driven by a deep sense of Russian power have been diminished.'
The new government must initiate a comprehensive review of India's nuclear weapons doctrine and posture. Ajai Shukla explains
If the sales go through, they said in e-mails sent to the Senators, the sophisticated weapons might find their way into the hands of Taliban, Iraqi insurgents, Iranians and North Koreans.
He said Pakistan was working with the international community to ensure the security of its nuclear installations, which were always in safe hands.
Amid concerns that terrorists could obtain material related to nuclear weapons from Pakistan, a latest Congressional report has said that Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had "sent emissaries to establish contact" with the maligned A Q Khan network.
The leaders also noted the "negative impacts" of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, especially for developing and least-developed countries.
'The worst mistake India can make is not to take Musharraf seriously. That was the mistake India made in the eighties when our scientists kept telling our leaders that Pakistan's nuclear programme was ten years behind us.'
This is the first time in decades that China has made its flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile public in an apparent show of strategic deterrence, State-run China Daily reported.
In response to a question about whether US citizens should be concerned about a nuclear war breaking out, Biden said "no."
'Imagine for a moment that the Coast Guard was unable to stop the vessel and it reached Porbandar with its cargo/personnel and targeted the event at which the prime minister was present,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Pakistan on Monday said a media report about the United States secretly providing aid to the country to guard its nuclear weapons painted a "distorted and exaggerated" picture of Islamabad's efforts to ensure safety of its atomic arsenal.
With intelligence inputs suggesting that terrorists were planning to attack India's nuclear installations, Army chief General Deepak Kapoor on Wednesday said Indian weapons were 'fully secure' and that there was no doubt about their safety. "As far as Indian nuclear weapons are concerned, I can assure you that whatever weapons we have, they are fully secure and there is no doubt about their safety," he told reporters.
'Pakistan has been successful in convincing the rest of the world that the Pakistani nuclear terrorists are meant to target only India. This is myopia at its worst,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Saudi Arabia's strategic review has UN and nuclear analysts worried, says 'The Guardian'
A must read for a generation that grew up on his novels.
President Barack Obama, in the coming years, will have to decide whether to deploy such weapons cutting the US reliance on nuclear weapons, the New York Times said in its report.
India has sought total elimination of nuclear arms backed by a security system in which states do not feel the need to develop, produce or stockpile them.
The statements raised eyebrows in the Obama administration and is seen as "irresponsible" behaviour by top Pakistani leadership.
Is North Korea really dismantling its nuclear programme? Rajaram Panda explains the many challenges to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.
AQ Khan, a controversial scientist known as the father of Pakistan's clandestine nuclear programme, passed away here on Sunday after a brief illness. He was 85.
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