Published on 12:00 AM, November 29, 2014

'Pak to have 200 nuke warheads by 2020'

'Pak to have 200 nuke warheads by 2020'

Pakistan is likely to have enough fissile material to build over 200 nuclear warheads by 2020, according to the latest report by Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a US think tank.
The CFR special report “Strategic Stability in the Second Nuclear Age”, authored by Gregory Koblentz from George Mason University, states that “Pakistan, which has the fastest growing nuclear weapon program in the world, is believed to have enough fissile material to produce between 110 and 120 nuclear warheads. By 2020, Pakistan could have a fissile material stockpile sufficient to produce more than 200 nuclear weapons.”
According to the findings of the report, South Asia is the region "most at risk of a breakdown in strategic stability due to an explosive mixture of unresolved territorial disputes, cross-border terrorism, and growing nuclear arsenals." The report details that “Pakistan has deployed or is developing eleven delivery systems for its nuclear warheads, including aircraft, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles.”
While Pakistan is focused predominantly on the threat posed by India, it is reportedly also concerned by the potential for the United States to launch a military operation to seize or disarm Pakistani nuclear weapons, the report says. This concern, the report continues, is based in part on reported contingency planning by the US military to prevent Pakistani nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists.
Describing the current period as a second nuclear age, the report says that the “security dilemma” of the Cold War, has given way to a “security trilemma” where actions taken by one state to protect itself from a second make a third feel insecure. Due to this trilemma, the report says, though nuclear arsenals are shrinking in the rest of the world, Asia is witnessing a nuclear build up. Unlike the remaining Permanent Five  countries, China is increasing and diversifying its nuclear arsenal.