• Rejects New Delhi’s call for agency’s oversight of Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal
• India says water treaty to remain suspended until end to ‘cross-border terrorism’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to investigate the ‘nuclear black market’ in India and repeated incidents of theft and illicit trafficking of radioactive material, as it rejected a call by India’s defence minister for the nuclear watchdog to monitor Islamabad’s nuclear programme.

Pointing to multiple incidents of radioactive material theft in India and other security lapses, the Foreign Office said, “Pakistan urges a thorough investigation of these incidents and calls upon India to ensure the safety and security of its nuclear facilities and arsenal.”

“If anything, the IAEA and the international community should be worried about the repeated theft and illicit trafficking incidents involving nuclear and radioactive material in India,” the statement added.

The Foreign Office was responding to comments made by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during a speech to Indian soldiers in Srinagar, in which he said, “I believe that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons should be taken under the supervision of the IAEA.”

Mr Singh’s remarks came days after the two nuclear-armed neighbours paused their worst military confrontation in nearly three decades following the Pahalgam attack, a militant assault that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based groups. Tensions spiked as cross-border exchanges escalated, prompting global concern over a potential nuclear flashpoint.

In a separate statement days after the ceasefire, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail. India will strike precisely and decisively at the terrorist hideouts developing under the cover of nuclear blackmail.”

In its response, the Foreign Office said Mr Singh’s comments “reveal his profound insecurity and frustration regarding Pakistan’s effective defence and deterrence against Indian aggression through conventional means,” adding that “Pakistan’s conventional capabilities are adequate to deter India, without the self-imposed ‘nuclear blackmail’ that New Delhi suffers.”

The Foreign Office also criticised Mr Singh’s remarks as “ignorant of the mandate and responsibilities” of the IAEA, a Vienna-based UN agency tasked with verifying that nuclear programmes remain peaceful. India’s civilian nuclear facilities are subject to IAEA safeguards under a 2008 agreement, but its strategic programme is not.

Citing recent incidents, the Foreign Office recalled that five individuals were reportedly caught in the Indian city of Dehradun last year with a radioactive device allegedly stolen from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. In another case, a gang was found in possession of Californium — a highly radioactive element valued at over $100 million. Three separate incidents of Californium theft were also reported in 2021.

“These recurring incidents call into question the measures taken by New Delhi for the safety and security of nuclear and other radioactive material. These incidents also suggest the existence of a black market for sensitive, dual-use materials inside India,” the Foreign Office said.

While tensions have de-escalated for now, the heated rhetoric and the Indus Waters Treaty suspension have pushed South Asia’s nuclear-armed rivals into another prolonged diplomatic standoff.

Water treaty tensions

In a further sign of deteriorating ties, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar announced on Thursday that the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty would remain in effect “until cross-border terrorism by Pakistan is credibly and irrevocably stopped”.

India had announced the treaty’s suspension immediately after the Pahalgam attack on April 22.

Pakistan had then condemned the Indian move, stating: “Pakistan vehemently rejects the Indian announcement to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. The treaty is a binding international agreement brokered by the World Bank and contains no provision for unilateral suspension.”

Water is a “vital national interest of Pakistan, a lifeline for its 240 million people and its availability will be safeguarded at all costs”, the Foreign Office warned at the time.

“Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan as per the Indus Waters Treaty, and the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian will be considered an act of war and responded with full force across the complete spectrum of national power,” it added.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2025