Pakistan is moving towards a plutonium-based nuclear weapons programme that is more "destructive and deliverable", a US think tank has said.
"Pakistan is likely supplementing or replacing its current uranium-based nuclear weapon arsenal with plutonium-based weapons which will be more destructive and deliverable," said Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) in response to a news article in Washington Post published on Pakistan's nuclear programme.
Washington-based ISIS said The Washington Post called Pakistan's imminent development of nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and perhaps thermonuclear weapons a sign of a "more mature" programme, as if to imply that more destructive nuclear weapons somehow lead to a better nation.
"By incorrectly describing what is going on in Pakistan, these choices of words distort the debate before it even starts," ISIS said.
In the last two weeks, Pakistan has sought to turn the public debate over its nuclear programme into a binary choice between Pakistan expanding its programme and Pakistan modernising its programme, it said, adding that the truth, however, is more complex.
"Modernising" a nuclear weapons programme, rather, should at most be interpreted as improving the security of existing nuclear weapons, increasing security of fissile material in storage, at military and civilian nuclear industrial sites, or in transit," ISIS said.