India trashes Pak claim of nuclear city

new delhi — India on Thursday dismissed Pakistan’s claim that it was building a secret nuclear city, and termed it a diversionary tactic of the neighbour to deflect attention from its “continued state sponsorship of terrorism”.

“These are completely baseless allegations. The so-called secret city appears to be a figment of the Pakistan imagination,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup at a briefing here.

“India has always been in compliance with all its international obligations. This is a very strange statement coming from a country that does not have a separation plan and has a strong record of proliferation which is well known to the world,” he said.

“This is a diversionary tactic by Pakistan which aims to deflect attention from the real issue at hand — the continued state sponsorship of terrorism by Pakistan and its harbouring of internationally designated terrorists,” said Swarup. Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria claimed India has also built a “secret nuclear city” and has been conducting tests on intercontinental missile, reported Dawn newspaper.

“There is a fear that the Indian reactors not mandated by the safeguards might be used clandestinely for plutonium production and the existing stockpiles might be diverted to a military programme at a subsequent stage,” Director General Disarmament at the Foreign Office Kamran Akhtar said in Islamabad.

Earlier this week, Pakistan said it wants India to bring its entire civilian nuclear programme under the safeguards laid out by the International Atomic Energy Commission. —