Khalid Kidwai also rejected concerns over the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, insisting that adequate safeguards are in place to protect what analysts have described as the world's fastest-growing atomic arsenal.
Pakistan's development of smaller warheads built for use on battlefields, in addition to longer-range weapons, has increased international concerns that they could get into rogue hands because of the pervasive threat of Islamic militants in the country.
Pakistan and its larger neighbor India have fought three wars. They have held on-off peace talks over the years but are involved in a nuclear and missile arms race that shows no sign of abating.
For 15 years, Kidwai led the administration of Pakistan's nuclear and missile weapons program. He now serves as an adviser to the National Command Authority, a committee of the top civilian and military leaders that sets the country's nuclear weapons policy.
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He spoke yesterday at a conference on nuclear security organised by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
He contended that Pakistan's nuclear doctrine is "cloaked in ambiguity" which undermines confidence between the two countries.
Kidwai said nuclear deterrence had helped prevent war in South Asia. He said Pakistan's development of tactical weapons -- in the form of the Nasr missile, which has a 60-kilometer range -- was in response to concerns that India's larger military could still wage a conventional war against the country, thinking Pakistan would not risk retaliation with a bigger nuclear weapon.