WASHINGTON: Speculation about the potential use of nuclear weapons will not help reduce tensions between India and Pakistan, warns the United States.

At a news briefing, US State Department spokesman John Kirby also stressed the need for exercising restraint in developing nuclear weapons.

“Obviously, we continue to urge all nuclear-capable states, including Pakistan, to exercise restraint regarding furthering their nuclear capabilities,” he said.

He refused to get dragged into a media debate, claiming that some Pakistani officials had threatened to use the nuclear option if the current situation in South Asia led to an armed conflict with India.

“I haven’t seen those comments, so I’d be loath to specifically address them,” Mr Kirby said, “what we want to see are the tensions decrease.”

Asked if the United States was working with Pakistan to bring it into the mainstream on the nuclear issue, Mr Kirby said: “Obviously, these kinds of matters are matters we discuss with Pakistani leaders on a routine basis.”

The nuclear issue, he said, was something that the US would continue to focus on, as it was consistent with President Obama’s vision of a world without nuclear weapons.

Mr Kirby said the United States regularly held discussions with Pakistani officials on the country’s nuclear programme but he refused to comment on a US think-tank report that Pakistan would be the third-largest nuclear stockpiles after the United States and Russia in a decade. “I’m not going to have anything substantive to offer on the report’s findings,” he said.

The think-tank report released on Thursday said that Pakistan should have the rights and obligations of a nuclear-weapon state recognised by the NPT.

Countries recognised as nuclear-weapon states by the members of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are allowed to keep their weapons in return for meeting certain obligations.

“It is in Pakistan’s national security interests and the interests of the international community to find ways in which Pakistan can enjoy the rights and follow the obligations of other nuclear-weapon states recognised by the NPT,” says the paper released by two think-tanks, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Stimson Centre.

They urge Pakistan to employ a different strategy than India, if it wants to be recognised as a nuclear-weapon state.

According to the paper, the Pakistani case for mainstreaming rests on three arguments. The first is basic fairness: Pakistan deserves the same treatment and status in the global nuclear order as India.

The second is stability: the subcontinent will grow increasingly unstable if India and Pakistan are treated differently, with India accorded favoured treatment and Pakistan remaining an outlier.

The study claims that within the next five to ten years, Pakistan could become the third largest nuclear stockpile holder, behind only the United States and Russia.

The report cites analysts as saying that Pakistan possesses around 120 nuclear warheads as compared to India’s 100. In next five to ten years, Pakistan could have at least 350 nuclear weapons. But the authors warn Pakistan not to engage in this competition with India, which has a much larger economy and international acceptance. “It is a losing proposition for Pakistan to sustain, let alone expand,” they argue.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2015

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