NEW DELHI – Pakistan maintains a lead in the number of nuclear warheadswhen compared to arch-rival India, according to an assessment bythe Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday, reported *TheTimes of India*link>.

The Indian publication noted that the country was now reliant on developinga deterrence capability which focused on survival in fear of strikes byPakistan.

According to the newspaper, Islamabad has 140-150 nuclear warheads, ascompared to 130 nuclear warheads owned by New Delhi. China, compared to thetwo countries, has 280 nuclear weapons.

The SIPRI report also highlighted that superpowers like the United Statesand Russia possess thousands of nuclear weapons, and account for 92 percent of the nuclear stockpiles around the world.

SIPRI also stated that every nuclear-armed country is in the process ofdeveloping or deploying new nuclear weapons systems.

“India and Pakistan are both expanding their nuclear weapon stockpiles aswell as developing new land, sea and air-based missile delivery systems.China continues to modernise its nuclear weapon delivery systems and isslowly increasing the size of its nuclear arsenal,” added SIPRI.

*The Times of India* quoted Indian establishment sources as saying that thecountry was now preparing a defence strategy to counter a threat ofencirclement from China and Pakistan.

“The number of warheads do not really matter. With a declared no-first use(NFU) nuclear policy, India is keen to ensure survivability and credibilityof our assets and NC3 (nuclear command, control and communication) systemsfor assured second-strike capabilities…We have achieved this to a largeextent,” claimed the source.

Islamabad also developed 70-km range Nasr (Hatf-IX) missiles capable ofcarrying nuclear warheads as an effective battlefield counter to India’s‘Cold Start’ strategy of swift, high-voltage conventional strikes intoenemy territory, the Indian publication acknowledged.

“For India, nuclear weapons are not war-fighting weapons. But we needcredible minimum deterrence, with the certainty of massive retaliationagainst adversaries,” added the Indian source.

India wants to achieve a nuclear stockpile of 200 warheads in the decadeahead to counter the Chinese threat, according to *The Times of India*.

The tri-services Strategic Forces Command in India is now in the process ofinducting India’s first intercontinental ballistic missile, the over5,000-km range Agni-V missile, which can hit even the northernmost regionof China, said the report by the Indian newspaper.

*This article originally appeared in The Times of Indialink>*