American intelligence agencies believe that Pakistan now has more than 100 deployed nuclear weapons, an increase of nearly 40 per cent in two years.
This makes Pakistan the fifth largest nuclear arsenal power behind the United States, Russia, France and China.
Four years ago, the Pakistani arsenal was estimated at 30 to 60 weapons. Based on the analysis done by the US recently, accelerated production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, Islamabad may now have an arsenal of up to 110 weapons, the Daily Mail reports.
Many of these have been miniaturised to be mounted on ballistic missiles with ranges of more than 1,245 miles bringing many Indian cities within reach.
The weapons have been kept at depots all over Pakistan – some are said to be near the main air bases.
The revelation of the growing size of its nuclear weapons will throw the spotlight on the massive aid packages given to Islamabad by the West, especially the US.
The Pakistan military has said that it needs more nuclear weapons to counter and deter India’s more conventional military might.
The two countries conducted nuclear tests in 1998, and have fought three wars since partition and independence in 1947.
