Rawalpindi, May 10:          Pakistan today conducted a successful training launch of Short Range Ballistic Missile Hatf III (Ghaznavi), which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads to a range of 290 kilometers.  The launch was conducted at the conclusion of the annual field training exercise of Army Strategic Force Command.  The exercise was aimed at testing the operational readiness of a Strategic Missile Group.

            The field exercise of the ASFC was witnessed by the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shameem Wynne, Director General Strategic Plans Division Lieutenant General Khalid Ahmed Kidwai (R), Commander Army Strategic Force Command Lieutenant General Tariq Nadeem Gilani, Commander Karachi Corps Lieutenant General Muhammad Ijaz Chaudhry, Chairman NESCOM Mr Muhammad Irfan Burney, and other senior military officials and scientists.

            Addressing the troops in the exercise area, the CJCSC commended the troops on displaying a high standard of proficiency in handling and operating the state of the art weapon system.  He said that the nation had developed a strong nuclear deterrence capability and expected that the officers and men entrusted with the task of deterring aggression would continue to train hard and maintain professional excellence.  He said that Pakistan’s Armed Forces were fully capable of safeguarding Pakistan’s security against aggression.

            The successful test has also been warmly appreciated by the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan, who have congratulated the participating ASFC troops, the scientists and the engineers on their outstanding success.

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Office of the Spokesman

Press Release

Foreign Minister chairs inter-Ministerial meeting on Special Nuclear Material Portals

          Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khan chaired a high-level Inter-Ministerial meeting in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, today. The meeting was briefed on the deployment of Special Nuclear Material (SNM) Portals at key exit/entry points to deter, detect and prevent illicit trafficking of nuclear and radioactive materials.

          The meeting was part of Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to augment the security of nuclear and radioactive materials, and to further strengthen export controls.

Islamabad

12 March 2012

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Office of the Spokesman

Press Release

Extension of Pakistan-India “Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons”

Pursuant to the understanding reached during the sixth round of Pakistan-India Expert level talks on Nuclear Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), held in Islamabad on 27 December 2011, the two sides have agreed to extend the validity of the “Agreement on Reducing the Risk from Accidents Relating to Nuclear Weapons” for another five years, with effect from 21 February 2012.

The Agreement had entered into force on 21 February 2007 for an initial duration of five years. It aims at reducing the risk from accidents related to nuclear weapons.

Islamabad

21 February 2012

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Nonproliferation advocates fear that allowing India to import Australian uranium for its civilian atomic sector would enable the South Asian state to shift domestic uranium resources toward its nuclear weapons program. 

Canberra and New Delhi are expected to open uranium export talks this year. The Australian government has said any deal with India would have to meet the same strict nonproliferation requirements as agreements reached previously with other nations.

Fraser said Canberra was wrong to allow uranium negotiations with a nation that possesses nuclear weapons outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

"There is no doubt that exports to India will make it easier for India to divert uranium for weapons programs," the former Liberal Party prime minister said.

Fraser also criticized the former Bush administration in the United States for taking stances he said encouraged nations such as North Korea and Iran to develop nuclear-weapon capabilities. Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program, while North Korea is open about its atomic arms activities (see related GSN stories, today; Australian Associated Press I/Herald Sun, Jan. 26). 

Fraser and more than 700 other well-known and influential Australian citizens are urging Canberra to take the lead in pressing for the elimination of nuclear weapons around the world, AAP reported.

The Australians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention is comprised of 713 Australians who have been awarded the prestigious Order of Australia.

"The increasing risks of nuclear weapons proliferation and use in our region and beyond mean there has never been a more important time for Australian initiative and leadership in global efforts to free the world from nuclear weapons," the group said in a statement.

The group, which includes several former prime ministers and foreign ministers, would like Canberra to back an effort by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to press for formal talks on a global treaty that would prohibit nuclear arms (Katina Curtis, Australian Associated Press II/Sydney Morning Herald, Jan. 25).

Elsewhere, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday hosted Indian Ambassador to the United States Nirupama Rao for wide-ranging discussions that touched on "the importance of our civil nuclear cooperation and continued efforts to chart a way forward that will bring India the benefits of American nuclear technology," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a report by the Indo-Asian News Service.

Though Washington and New Delhi inked a bilateral civilian atomic trade agreement in 2008, it has yet to be implemented as U.S. companies are wary of doing business in the South Asian nation under existing nuclear law there (see GSN, Dec. 13, 2011).

The Indian and U.S. governments are "still trying to work through the legal and regulatory issues that we have in India," Nuland said (Indo-Asian News Service/Economic Times, Jan. 26).

Source:http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/ex-australian-leader-denounces-uranium-trade-india/

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Weeks ahead of the nuclear security summit in Seoul, India has been dealt a blow on its famed nuclear reputation. In the first-ever index of security of nuclear materials, India almost brings out the rear – just above Iran, Pakistan and North Korea.

The index, compiled by a US nuclear think-tank Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), "is the first Nuclear Materials Security Index, a rating and ranking of the security framework in 32 nations that possess one kilogram or more of weapons-usable nuclear materials."

In its summary, the study says this index "is not a facility-by-facility review of "guns, guards, and gates". Instead, the authors of the study say they assessed each state on "publicly available indicators of a state's nuclear materials security practices and conditions". The index is an embarrassment as India is hosting the sherpas for the nuclear security summit in New Delhi on Monday. India takes a leading position on nuclear security issues, and is also scheduled to establish a centre of excellence for nuclear security in Haryana.

While many in the Indian nuclear sector may scoff at the index, it is being used as a pressure point – the think-tank is even asking Australia to reconsider its decision to sell uranium to India because of New Delhi's score. Australia and the UK have the highest scores in the index.

Countries were scored on the following indicators: quantities and sites, which included material production and transportation; security measures, particularly on-site protection; accession to global norms, including taking on voluntary commitments; domestic commitments and capacity.

The last may prove to be a trifle controversial because it judges countries on "societal factors", which include political instability and corruption.

India scored well in keeping with its international commitments, onsite physical protection, response capabilities and accounting procedures. It seems to score poorly on political stability and because of the lack of domestic legislation.

Professor R Rajaraman, emeritus professor of theoretical physics, JNU, acknowledged that for the researchers of EIU, "Their judgments do come into play at this stage. In their evaluation, the main negative factors against India seem to have been the absence of an institutionally independent regulatory agency, our continued production of weapon material and overall corruption."

The problem Indians will have with this index is the fact that there is clearly a lot of value judgment that has gone into putting a score on a country.

Anil Kakodkar, former chairman of DAE, said, "Nuclear security , by definition, is confidential. How do they expect to assess us on what they don't obviously know?"

Rajaraman was one of the four Asians in an international experts' panel, who prepared the various factors and their relative weights for the NTI index.

He said, "I believe the resulting package of indicators is objective and very transparent. Apart from "rating" countries, it also provides tangible criteria for any country , even if it disagrees with its own score, to constructively examine and enhance the security of its material."

India, Pakistan and Israel are still publicly declared manufacturers of fissile material, which was a negative for the study.

India scored zero on "security of materials during transportation", a score the Indian government is unlikely to agree with.

Judging India's nuclear security by corruption will raise eyebrows as well. Though corruption in India cannot be denied, the fact that only one department is in charge is seen to be an insulating factor.

Source: Economics Times

The Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) Nuclear Materials Security Index is a first-of-its-kind public benchmarking project of nuclear materials security conditions on a country-bycountry basis. The NTI Index, prepared with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), was created to spark an international discussion about priorities required to strengthen security and, most important, to encourage governments to provide assurances and to take actions to reduce risks.

See Original Report Here  (Source: NTI)

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