Pakistan says will not reduce its nuclear weapons

Speaking to media in Washington, Mr. Aziz said Pakistan will consider reducing its nuclear weapons arsenal once India does it.

“India is developing its nuclear stock. Its ability after the (civil nuclear) agreement with the United States to divert more stocks to it, more fissile materials to nuclear weapons has increased much more.”

Later, in a meeting with Defence Writers, Sartaj said. “I think (Pakistan’s top) security concern is strategic and conventional imbalance with India.”

“I think, it is important for Pakistan to really process that reality and put that front and center in its policy,” he said in an apparent reference to the reports that Pakistan has the fastest growing stockpile of nuclear weapons in the world. The nuclear and non-proliferation issue is among the six topics that was discussed during the sixth US-Pak Strategic Dialogue co-chaired by Kerry and Aziz here yesterday.

“Our nuclear program is deterrence. It is India which is expanding its nuclear arsenal at a much faster rate than we are,” Aziz alleged. “The concept of deterrence is a dynamic one. Deterrence has to be effective and our deterrence is India centric. If India would not have started its nuclear program, we would have never done this,” he said.