*STOCKHOLM: Pakistan now has 140-150 nuclear warheads as compared to130-140 of India, with China hovering around 280, as per the latest reportof the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which wasreleased on Monday.*
According the report, the world’s nuclear powers are reducing theirarsenals but they are also modernising, putting a fresh and “worrying”focus on strategic deterrence.
“The renewed focus on the strategic importance of nuclear deterrence andcapacity is a very worrying trend,” the SIPRI said.
“The world needs a clear commitment from the nuclear weapon states to aneffective, legally binding process towards nuclear disarmament,” SIPRI headJan Eliasson said.
SIPRI, a well respected authority, said nine countries — the UnitedStates, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and NorthKorea — had 14,465 nuclear warheads at the beginning of this year, ofwhich 3,750 were actually deployed.
This compared with 14,935 warheads at the start of 2017, SIPRI said, withthe reduction largely due to the United States and Russia as they fulfillarms control commitments agreed in their 2010 START treaty.
The two countries between them hold more some 92 percent of total warheads,SIPRI noted, and they both have long-term modernisation programmes in place.
Russia in particular has in recent years re-stated the importance ofnuclear weapons to its strategic defence, sparking concerns in NATO thatMoscow might be more willing to use them in a crisis.
At the same time, Britain with 215 warheads, France 300, China 280, India130-140, Pakistan 140-150, Israel 80 and North Korea 10-20, were all eitherdeploying or planning to deploy new nuclear weapons system, it said.
“North Korea also demonstrated unexpected rapid progress in the testing oftwo new types of long-range ballistic missile delivery systems,” it noted.- APP/AFP