Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is simply a deterrent to protect the country, and there will no longer be any need for it once the Kashmir issue is resolved, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said as he asserted that if the Americans have the resolve and the will, the problem can be sorted out.
“I don’t know where they’ve come up with this. Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is simply a deterrent, to protect ourselves,” Prime Minister Khan said during an interview with the news program Axios on HBO, which was reported by Dawn online. Khan said that he was “not sure” whether it was growing. “As far as I know, it’s not an offensive thing. Any country which has a neighbor seven times its size would be worried.
“I always have been. We’ve had three wars against India, and ever since we have had a nuclear deterrent, there has been no war between the two countries. We’ve had border skirmishes, but we’ve never faced battle. The moment there is a settlement in Kashmir, the two neighbors would live as civilized people. We will not need to have nuclear deterrents”, Khan said.
This year, Pakistan has 165 nuclear warheads, and it appears to be expanding its nuclear arsenals, a study by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
