A Pakistani think tank on Tuesday claimed that India had sufficient resources to produce between 356 and 492 nuclear weapons. "A groundbreaking research study reveals that India already has sufficient material and technical capacity to make 356 to 492 nuclear bombs," the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad said in a report titled "Indian Unsafeguarded Nuclear Programme". "This work is in contrast to several earlier studies that took a much modest view of the Indian nuclear bomb-making potential."

The study, co-authored by four nuclear scholars, allegedly proves that India has the largest and oldest unsafeguarded nuclear programme among developing countries and those not signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. With their report, Ahmed Khan, Adeela Azam, Sameer Khan and Mohammad Ali, aim to provide an insight into the "true history, size, extent and capabilities of the different aspects of the complex Indian nuclear programme, which New Delhi has kept outside the International Atomic Agency safeguards," according to PTI.

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Ansar Pervez, the former chairperson of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, claimed that the research "breaks new ground" by providing an understanding of India's capacity to manufacture nuclear weapons. Pervez said the study was superior to several others on the country's nuclear programme in terms of analysis, details, depth and data from primary sources.

The report was published about a month after Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said Islamabad will not hesitate to use "tactical weapons" against India if its safety is at stake. "Tactical weapons, our programmes that we have developed, they have been developed for our protection. We haven't kept the devices just as showpieces. If our safety is threatened, we will annihilate them [India]," he said. The United States had also expressed its objection to Pakistan's repeated threats of launching nuclear attacks on India.