Amidst concerns over the possibility of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of terrorists, India has said it has no reason to doubt about their safety at this stage.
"At this stage, yes, we have no reason to doubt that yet," Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor told Karan Thapar's 'Devil's Advocate' programme when asked if he took the Pakistani assessment that their nukes were safe at face value.
He further said, "We do not have first hand information on that (Pak nuclear weapons). Certainly, those who are very close to Pakistan seem to be convinced that there is nothing to be worried about."
To a question if India has its own contingency plan in case Pakistani nukes seem to be in danger of falling into the hands of terrorists, he said, "look, we are not there yet. I am little anxious not to get into unnecessary alarmism at this point.
"Pakistan has a lot of difficulties, but they are not about to fall apart yet as a state and they are not about to have their army surrendering control of its most-prized military assets to irregulars. So, at this stage, this is not a concern but obviously this is a further argument for why the prime minister has repeatedly said a stable, peaceful Pakistan is in our interest too," Tharoor said.
{{/usCountry}}"Pakistan has a lot of difficulties, but they are not about to fall apart yet as a state and they are not about to have their army surrendering control of its most-prized military assets to irregulars. So, at this stage, this is not a concern but obviously this is a further argument for why the prime minister has repeatedly said a stable, peaceful Pakistan is in our interest too," Tharoor said.
{{/usCountry}}