Briefing journalists on a recent article in the Washington Post on the expansion of nuclear facilities, Pakistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said trivialized its contents and warned nuclear war if India pursues terrorists into Kashmir that it has occupied. Tasnim Aslam questioned the “need for the article” since “Pakistan is a nuclear weapons state” and that the coordinates of the Khushab and other facilities “are exchanged even with India under the 1988 agreement about ongoing nuclear facilities and installations.”

She acknowledged that Khushab was a nuclear weapons facility and not under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but declined to provide “specific comments on Pakistan’s facilities, the details of the facilities, and programs in the centre.” While asserting that Pakistan does “not want nuclear or conventional arms race in the region,” she also accused India of being the “first to introduce nuclear weapons in the region” and “first to test nuclear weapons in this region.”

Aslam was very critical of unidentified reports from India saying that it was considering hot pursuit of terrorists and action against terrorist suspects and camps in Pakistan. Calling such thinking “irresponsible,” Aslam wondered whether India wanted a “nuclear war in this region” or “holocaust.” She warned that Pakistan will never “allow hot pursuit inside its territory” or in so-called “Azad Kashmir.” She reminded that even in 2001-2002 when India amassed troops in strike formations following the attack on the Parliament, the countries “had to return to the table to negotiate.” Stating that “is the option” open to the nations, Aslam reiterated that Pakistan wants “is pursuit of peace, we want the peace process to start, resume and we are willing to discuss all issues.”

Following the terrorist attack in Mumbai, India postponed the Foreign Secretaries level review of the composite dialogue process and no meeting was scheduled during the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting in Dhaka later this month. Aslam said that Foreign Secretaries “would naturally be interacting” during that meet but it is not clear if this means interacting as part of the SAARC dialogue or furthering bilateral conversations.