Terrorist Threats to Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons: A Clear and Present Danger
by Sajid Farid Shapoo
Journal Article | January 30, 2017 - 6:40pm
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Terrorist Threats to Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons: A Clear and Present Danger
Sajid Farid Shapoo
Pakistan has the world’s fastest growing nuclear stockpile.
Given the rate of plutonium and highly enriched uranium production, it may be able to produce another 200 nuclear warheads in the next 5 to 10 years, taking its arsenal close to 350. The production of such a staggering stockpile has been associated with an extremely worrisome trend; the majority of nuclear warheads produced by Pakistan in last decade are low yield tactical weapons. The rapid tacticalization of a strategic asset in the region considered to be a nuclear flashpoint, has raised a plethora of security and strategy related issues.
Pakistan is the epicenter of global jihadi terrorism. The country has faced some of the most devastating attacks on its defense establishments by the jihadist in the past decade or so. There have been repeated instances where some of these attacks were mounted with the help of insiders within the Pak military establishment. The unabated internal chaos coupled with a perpetual tension with its eastern neighbor, makes Pakistan a bit of a nuclear nightmare. Its willingness to use tactical nuclear weapons even against a limited conventional incursion by India further complicates the situation. Pakistan, however, has repeatedly stated that its weapons are safe and it has a robust and stable security framework to safeguard its nuclear weapons.
This essay is an attempt to assess threats to Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Weapons (TNWs) and its nuclear security vulnerability.
http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/terrorist-threats-to-pakistan%E2%80%99s-tactical-nuclear-weapons-a-clear-and-present-danger
