"Fear-mongering" by various news outlets in recent months about the prospects for Pakistani-based terrorists to acquire or attack nuclear assets plays into the government's longstanding paranoia about foreign nations plotting to seize the nation's atomic arsenal, said Toby Dalton, deputy director of the Nuclear Policy Program for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Islamabad "fears that the outside world is going to get Pakistan's nuclear weapons and that fear I think is likely to drive Pakistan for a time to want to disperse its nuclear weapons and to have higher alert postures for fear of some sort of disarming strike," Dalton said during a panel discussion in Washington on the South Asian nuclear arms race.
Pakistan is widely believed to have the world’s fastest growing nuclear stockpile, with recent reports estimating the arsenal at between 90 and 110 warheads (see GSN, July 1). The nation is generally thought to store its nuclear warheads separately from their modes of delivery, though the locations of the armaments are closely held secrets.
The South Asian state has been under scrutiny for some time due to international concerns that internal instability could provide an opportunity for terrorists to seize a warhead or, more plausibly, enough weapon-grade material to build a crude nuclear explosive of their own. More >>>
Location: Islamabad
