Imran: Won’t need nukes if Kashmir issue is resolved
Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is "simply a deterrent" to protect the country and there will no longer be any need for it once the Kashmir issue is resolved, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said as he asserted that if the Americans have the resolve and the will, the issue can be sorted out.
Pakistan has 165 nuclear warheads as of January this year and it appears to be expanding its nuclear arsenals, a study by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said last week. Pakistan had 160 nuclear warheads as of January last year, it said.
“I don't know where they've come up with this. Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is simply a deterrent, to protect ourselves,” Khan said during an interview with the news programme Axios on HBO, which was reported by Dawn online.
Khan said that he was “not sure” whether it was growing. “As far as I know, it’s not an offensive thing. Any country which has a neighbour seven times its size would be worried.” He was responding to a question by the inter- viewer who asked, “Intelligence analysts say Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear arsenal anywhere in the world. Why?” Khan went on to say that he was “completely against nuclear arms”.
“I always have been. We've had three wars against India and ever since we have had a nuclear deterrent, there has been no war between the two countries. We've had border skirmishes but we've never faced war... The moment there is a settlement on Kashmir, the two neighbours would live as civilised people. We will not need to have nuclear deterrents,” the cricketer-turned-politician said.
To another question, Khan said that the US had a big responsibility when it came to Kashmir. "If the Americans have the resolve and the will, (the Kashmir issue) can be sorted out,” he said.
India has repeatedly ruled out any role for a third party, asserting that any issue between India and Pakistan should be resolved bilaterally under the provisions of Simla agreement and the Lahore declaration.