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India softening world opinion before pulling N-bombs out of basement, charges Pak

Pakistan on Saturday accused India of already having a nuclear weapon after reports from Islamabad suggested that India could avoid international sanctions by introducing nuclear weapons without carrying out tests.

At the weekly Pakistani foreign ministry briefing, spokesman Altaf Tariq told reporters that India was conducting a ''gradual'' campaign to soften international opinion before admitting to the world that it has nuclear weapons.

Tariq was referring to statements in Pakistani newspapers quoting Nagendra Nath Jha, chairman of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's foreign affairs committee, as saying, ''It is possible to induct nuclear weapons without testing them, and it is one way of circumventing US law."

The open reference to inducting nuclear weapons without testing "was yet another escalator step towards overt nuclearisation,'' said Tariq.

He said Pakistan interprets the statement as an acknowledgement by India that it possesses a nuclear weapon "which it now intends to bring out of the basement''.

Pakistan would respond to protect and strengthen its defences, said Tariq.

"We will decide on whatever is appropriate to make Pakistan's defence impregnable,'' he said, and urged the international community to condemn India, saying that so far it had been "mute''.

Both Pakistan and India have said they are capable of building a nuclear bomb, but both countries say they have not crossed the threshold.

UNI

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