ISLAMABAD – A global security organisation has ranked Pakistan above India,North Korea and Iran in terms of handling of weapons-usable nuclearmaterials.
The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a US-based organization focused on reducingnuclear and biological threats imperiling humanity, has issued the ranking,showing Pakistan has gained three points since the last assessment of 2020to secure 19 place in list of 22 states.
The index revealed that Pakistan’s total score is 49 which is higher thanIndia’s 40, Iran’s 29, and North Korea’s 18.
It showed that Pakistan ranked 32 along with Russia and Israel in terms ofthe security of its nuclear facilities while it is above India, Iran,Mexico, South Africa and several others among 47 countries.
However, the index warned that global nuclear security was deteriorating.“After years of reporting flagging progress on nuclear security, the NTINuclear Security Index for the first time in 2023 finds that nuclearsecurity conditions are regressing in the dozens of countries and areaswith weapons-usable nuclear materials and nuclear facilities,” it said.
It further highlighted that several countries, including Pakistan, wereexpanding their stocks of weapon-grade materials.
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“Eight countries — France, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan,Russia, and the United Kingdom — have increased their stocks ofweapons-usable nuclear materials, in some cases by thousands of kilogramsper year, undermining minimization and elimination efforts and increasingthe risk of theft,” said the report. “Countries also are reneging on theircommitments to confidence building and information sharing, key drivers ofprogress during the period of the Nuclear Security Summits.”
The 2023 NTI Index includes a separate Radioactive Source SecurityAssessment that assesses national policies, commitments, and actions across175 countries and Taiwan to secure radioactive sources and prevent a dirtybomb. The assessment does not score or rank countries and areas.
The NTI Index is a groundbreaking assessment of nuclear security conditionsin countries and areas around the world. Developed in partnership withEconomist Impact (EI), it uses publicly available information to trackprogress on nuclear and radiological security across the countries.