Pakistan hits out at Indian nuclear sub

Global Times
Pakistan hit out at India yesterday, branding its first nuclear-powered submarine “detrimental” to regional peace and vowing to take “appropriate steps” to maintain a “strategic balance.”

“Continued induction of new lethal-weapon systems by India is detrimental to regional peace and stability,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.

India on Sunday launched the first of five planned submarines by naming the 6,000-ton INS Arihant, powered by an 85-megawatt nuclear reactor that can reach 44 kilometres an hour (24 knots).

The submarine will be armed with torpedoes and ballistic missiles.

“Pakistan believes that the maintenance of strategic balance is essential for peace and security in south Asia,” the foreign ministry said.

“Without entering into an arms race with India, Pakistan will take all appropriate steps to safeguard its security and maintain strategic balance.”

The Pakistani Navy also voiced concern. “It is a matter of serious concern not only for Pakistan but also for all littoral states in the Indian Ocean and beyond,” a spokesman said.

India is part of an exclusive group of nations, including Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, which own nuclear-powered submarines.

The vessel will undergo two years of sea trials in the Bay of Bengal before being commissioned for full service.

India conducted its first nuclear weapons tests in 1974. Pakistan then launched its own atomic weapons drive and tested its first devices in 1998.

But analysts in Pakistan brushed aside concerns of an arms race or renewed threat of war in South Asia sparked by India’s new submarine technology.

“It is not something we should worry about,” a leading Pakistani analyst on defense and security issues, Ayesha Siddiqa, told AFP.

“We have always been in a position to neutralize the Indian threat in case of war,” she said. “Its impact will be primarily on China-India relations and not India-Pakistan ties.”