Pakistan on Thursday claimed that India was building a “secret nuclear city” to disrupt the “strategic balance of power in the region”. Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria urged the international community to take note of India’s growing defence powers, accusing New Delhi of accumulating nuclear weapons and conducting inter-continental missile tests.
In response, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup accused Pakistan of trying to divert attention from terrorism on its soil. He said the allegations were baseless and “a figment of Pakistan’s imagination”, according to NDTV.
Zakaria also claimed that Pakistan had always batted for peace and had urged India to do the same. “Pakistan remains committed to the principles of peaceful existence with all of its neighbours, including India,” he said. The Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad last year conducted a study that revealed that India has sufficient material and the capacity to produce around 492 nuclear bombs, reported Dawn.
The Foreign Office spokesperson also accused India of repeatedly violating the ceasefire along the Line of Control and funding militants to carry out terror activities on Pakistan’s soil. He went on to add that India has not yet responded to Pakistan’s plea of an investigation into the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing that killed 68 people. “Swami Aseemanand [of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] publicly claimed to have been involved in the incident,” Zakaria alleged.
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