ISLAMABAD - A report has revealed that Pakistan is still maintaining nuclear dominance over its bitter rivals India and Israel.
According to a detailed post published by Business Insider, Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are higher in number and have the ‘credible minimum deterrence’ or the capability to ward off the enemy with the lowest number of nukes possible, the journal has reported.
As per the report, Pakistan – ranked sixth among the nine nuclear states – is believed to have 150 nuclear weapons. On the contrary, India is still ten warheads short with the weapon count rank of 7. ------------------------------
Pakistan was also ahead of its arch-rival in last year’s report, which stated that the country had an estimated 130-140 nuclear weapons while India was said to have about 120-130 of them.
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the nuclear scientist and the founder of Pakistan’s atomic programme, claimes that the country has the capability to target India in five minutes.
Similarly, Israel is estimated to have 80 nukes and occupies 8th place in the weapon count rank. The report mentions that only the Israeli establishment knows the actual count of their weapons. ------------------------------
The report said that while the US and Russia were slowly reducing their nuclear arsenals, they are modernizing their capacities.
It identifies that Russia has built an underwater nuclear capability that could kill millions of people in a single blast.
The total number of nuclear weapons in Russia’s control could easily end all life on earth, it added.
The report shows the estimated number of nuclear warheads owned by the following countries:
- Russia – 6,850, - USA – 6,450, - France – 300, - China – 280, - Pakistan – 150, - Britain – 215, - India – 130-140, - Israel – 80, - North Korea – 60.
*Via: Business Insider link*