India and Pakistan have traded accusations of nuclear weapons mismanagement, days after reaching a truce following four days of cross-border fighting.
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh questioned the safety of nuclear weapons in Pakistan on Thursday at an army base in Srinagar, in Indian-administered Kashmir, calling the neighbouring country an “irresponsible and rogue nation”.
“I believe that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons should be taken under the supervision of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” Singh said.
In response to the minister’s comments, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Singh had revealed his “profound insecurity and frustration regarding Pakistan’s effective defence and deterrence”.
“The comments of India’s Defence Minister also show his sheer ignorance of the mandate and responsibilities of a specialised agency of the United Nations like the IAEA,” it read.
“If anything, the IAEA and the international community should be worried about the repeated theft and illicit trafficking incidents involving nuclear and radioactive material in India,” the statement added.
The UN nuclear watchdog monitors countries that have nuclear weapons to ensure that they are peaceful.
Under a 2008 agreement, the IAEA monitors several Indian civilian nuclear facilities.
After conducting tit-for-tat nuclear tests in 1998, India and Pakistan became nuclear powers, making the region one of the world’s dangerous nuclear flashpoints.
Last week, the two countries traded intense missile and drone attacks, leaving nearly 70 people dead.
Credit: aljazeera.com
