Pakistan urged not to manufacture nuclear bombs

The US today urged Pakistan not to expand its nuclear weapons programme today after a think tank claimed Islamabad was building a nuclear reactor able to fuel up to 50 atomic bombs a year.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said it opposed a regional nuclear weapons arms race, but declined to deny a report by the Washington DC-based Institute for Science and International Security that claimed Islamabad was expanding its atomic arms capabilities.

The report’s release comes amid lingering US concern over Pakistan’s nuclear programme and opposition by American politicians to a planned Bush administration deal to sell F-16 fighter planes to this Muslim nation and close American ally in the war on terror.

“We have been aware of these plans and we discourage any use of that facility for military purposes, such as weapons development,” said White House spokesman Tony Snow in reaction to the report.

At the same time, he noted that Pakistan – like atomic-armed neighbour and rival India – has not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty “and, therefore, they do develop their capabilities independently”.

Asked if Washington had sought Pakistani assurances that it wouldn’t use the new reactor to produce plutonium for use in nuclear weapons, Snow said: “Not that I’m aware of.”

The institute report said satellite photos of Pakistan’s Khushab atomic site, about 105 miles south-west of the capital, Islamabad, indicated what appeared to be construction of a reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year.

The analysis said the move could signal a speeding up of regional nuclear proliferation and that the new reactor could be finished within a few years based on the current pace of construction.

“South Asia may be heading for a nuclear arms race that could lead to arsenals growing into the hundreds of nuclear weapons, or at a minimum vastly expanded stockpiles of military fissile material,” said the report, first carried by the Washington Post.

The report concluded that the apparent expansion plans would represent a 20-fold increase from Pakistan’s existing capabilities.

Tasnim Aslam, spokeswoman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, avoided directly answering questions posed on the report’s findings.

“This ought to be no revelation to anyone because Pakistan is a nuclear weapon state.” Aslam said. “(But) I have no specific comments on Pakistan’s facilities.”

Aslam defended Pakistan, saying it was not the first country to introduce nuclear weapons into South Asia. The comment apparently referred to India, with whom this Muslim nation has fought three wars with since 1947.

“We were not the first to test nuclear weapons in this region and that remains our position,” Aslam said during a press conference. “We do not want an arms race in this region.”

But the Post quoted a senior Pakistani official as acknowledging a nuclear expansion was under way.

Nuclear-armed neighbours Pakistan and India came to the brink of a nuclear war in 2002 after terrorists attacked India’s parliament.

New Delhi accused Islamabad-backed militants of carrying out the attack, but Pakistan denied the claims. Both countries have since embarked on a stop-start peace process.

Pakistan’s nuclear programme has previously raised concerns.

It conducted its only nuclear tests in May 1998 to match those of India carried out earlier that same month. India detonated its first nuclear explosion in 1974.

In February 2004, Abdul Qadeer Khan, considered to be the father of Pakistan’s atomic program, confessed to giving nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

Pakistani officials claimed they were unaware of Khan’s activities, but revealed later that he had sold centrifuges to Iran and North Korea and supplied weapons designs to Libya. But President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has since pardoned Khan.

The US Congress is also preparing to take up a nuclear cooperation agreement between the Bush administration and India, in which New Delhi would get access to sensitive US nuclear technology in exchange for agreeing to more stringent safeguards over its civilian nuclear reactors.

Pakistan has criticised the deal as one-sided and demanded similar access to American atomic technology.

There is also mounting opposition by US lawmakers to an impending White House deal to sell 18 new fighter jets to Pakistan.