10,000 men guarding Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal: official

September 20th, 2009 LONDON - Late former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto had asked the country's now-disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan to provide nuclear weapon know-how to Iran, a British newspaper reported Sunday.

August 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan's nuclear facilities have been attacked three times by home-grown extremists over the past two years, but there is "no waning confidence regarding the safety of the Pakistani nuclear programme", FOX News reported citing a senior US official. Three separate facilities in Pakistan - each of which deals in some part with nuclear activity - have been targeted by extremists, the unnamed official told the news channel confirming a report in West Point's Combating Terrorism Centre Sentinel.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju Monday said India is concerned over Pakistan's growing nuclear arsenal and asked the world to exert pressure on Islamabad not to cross minimum deterrent threshold.

May 29th, 2009 ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI - Pakistan's nuclear weapons are the cornerstone of its deterrence and there is complete national consensus on this, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani maintained Friday. "We are determined to retain nuclear deterrence at all cost and no compromise will be made on our core security interest," APP news agency quoted him as saying while chairing a meeting of the Strategic Planning Division (SPD) at the PM House in Islamabad.

May 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor Friday expressed his concern over reports of Pakistan's efforts to increase the number of its nuclear warheads. "If the media reports are to be believed, I am told the the number (of Pakistan's nuclear weapons) is limited to 60 but it is increasing.

May 28th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has reiterated that its nuclear assets are in safe custody and a large force of nearly 10,000 people have been deployed to keep a tight vigil on the country's nuclear arsenals. Director of arms control and disarmament affairs at the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) Air Commodore Khalid Banuri claimed that Pakistan has taken world class safety measures to safe guard its nuclear assets.

May 20th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen's fears of Pakistan rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal are being proved right by satellite images of two nuclear sites. According to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US based arms control institute, commercial satellite images of Pakistan's two nuclear sites in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rawalpindi shows Islamabad expanding its nuclear assets secretly.

May 19th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's military establishment and the Foreign Ministry have rule out the possibility of a capture of the country's nuclear arsenal by US forces. The US media recently claimed that a US special squad, specifically trained to secure Pakistan's nuclear assets, is in Afghanistan and waiting a green signal from President Barack Obama to launch its operation inside Pakistan to complete the mission.

May 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Allaying fears that the Pakistani nuclear arsenal might fall into the hands of the Taliban, Interior Minister Rehman Malik Monday said: 'If we can make nuclear assets, we can also secure them'. Anti-Pakistan forces are using the Taliban to destabilise the country, he told reporters after visiting a relief camp in Mardan in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

May 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan recently claimed that France has offered it a civilian nuclear technology deal similar to the US-India deal formalized last year, but it seems that Islamabad is counting its chickens before they've hatched, as there has not been any 'official' confirmation from Nicolas Sarkozy's office. French Officials said President Nicolas Sarkozy had confirmed his willingness to 'cooperate with Pakistan in the area of nuclear safety', but they declined to comment on whether Paris had offered any civil nuclear deal to Islamabad, as was claimed by Pakistan Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi recently.

May 17th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen has said that Pakistan is guarding its nuclear establishments tightly and has taken several security measures for its safety. Addressing a Congressional hearing here, Admiral Mullen assured the Senators that Pakistan's nuclear assets were in safe custody.

May 16th, 2009 PARIS - France has offered Pakistan civilian nuclear technology similar to what India has obtained. "France has agreed to transfer civilian nuclear technology to Pakistan.

May 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Concerned by reports of an imminent threat to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal from the Taliban, US Senator Richard Luger has asked President Obama to force Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to ensure the safety of the nukes. According to The Nation, Senate foreign committee member, Luga,r urged Obama to ask Zardari to step up security for Pakistan's nuclear facilities.

April 28th, 2009 China says it is transparent about nuclear weaponsBEIJING — China said Tuesday that it is completely transparent about its nuclear arsenal and dismissed a call by Japan for more information ahead of a visit by the Japanese prime minister. China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters China supports international nuclear disarmament efforts and had made "unremitting efforts" for a ban of nuclear weapons.

April 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan asserted Monday there was no danger of the Taliban getting hold of its nuclear arsenal and said the country's 'nuclear capability was in safe hands'. 'I want to assure the world that the nuclear capability of Pakistan is under safe hands,' APP quoted President Asif Ali Zardari as telling a group of international journalists here.