India nuclear test talk discomforting

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Thursday said it was concerned over reports that India was getting itself prepared for new nuclear tests.
“There are reports that India has a new nuclear test in the works, these reports are rather discomforting to Pakistan. Pakistan is however steadfast on its policy of maintaining minimum defence deterrence and does not want arms race in the region,” said the Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit while addressing his weekly press briefing.
He was responding to a question about senior Indian scientist, K Santanam’s remarks that India’s 1998 nuclear test had not been as successful as previously claimed and the country’s nuclear arsenal needed further tests.
Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor also said on Wednesday that Pakistan was going well beyond deterrence while commenting on reports that Islamabad had increased its nuclear arsenal and was working to add cruise missiles. This statement by Indian army chief is also seen as reflective of New Delhi’s desire to go for more nuclear detonations.
When he was asked to comment on concern by the US state department over the release of Dr Khan, Basit said that recent United States’ statements on Pakistan’s nuclear scientist, Dr AQ Khan and nuclear proliferation were quite baseless. The US state department said on Wednesday that they were monitoring the situation very closely because Washington still believed that Dr Khan posed a threat of nuclear proliferation.
He also said that the concerns that the lifting of restrictions previously placed on Dr Khan might lead to nuclear proliferation were baseless.
He said Pakistan had effective nuclear export control mechanisms to check proliferation of sensitive material.
Answering a query on India’s decision of linking the resumption of peace talks to Pakistan taking action against the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks, Basit described the latest dossier provided by India on the Mumbai attacks as a “rehash of information” contained in the previous documents.