India and Pakistan accused each other Thursday of failing to control their nuclear weapons, calling on the world to monitor their neighbour’s arsenal just days after their most serious military confrontation in two decades.
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal should be under the surveillance of the UN’s atomic energy agency, while Islamabad said the international community should investigate a “black market” in India.
The latest conflict between India and Pakistan had sparked global concerns that it could spiral into a full-blown war before a ceasefire was brokered on Saturday.
“I wanted to raise this question for the world: are nuclear weapons safe in the hands of a rogue and irresponsible nation?” Singh told troops at a base in Indian-administered Kashmir.
“I believe that Pakistan’s atomic weapons should be brought under the surveillance of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” Singh added.
Hours later, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the IAEA should instead probe “the repeated theft and illicit trafficking incidents involving nuclear and radioactive material in India”.
“These incidents also suggest the existence of a black market for sensitive, dual-use materials inside India,” its statement added.
But on Thursday, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced there had been “military to military communications” and both sides had agreed to extend a ceasefire until Sunday, May 18.
– Ceasefire –
Fighting began when India launched strikes on May 7 against what it called “terrorist camps” in Pakistan following an April attack in Indian-administered Kashmir which killed 26 people.
New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the militants it claimed were behind the attack — the deadliest on civilians in Kashmir in decades. Pakistan denies the charge.
Four days of intense drone, missile and artillery exchanges ensued, leaving nearly 70 people, including dozens of civilians, dead on both sides.
Both India and Pakistan are nuclear powers and members of the IAEA, which regulates the use of nuclear weapons.
Pakistani ministers have repeatedly said the nuclear option was not on the table and that the country’s nuclear governmental body was not summoned at any point during the recent conflict.
Pakistani military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry told reporters on Sunday that escalating conflict between the nuclear rivals was “inconceivable and sheer stupidity”.
“That conflict can lead to the peril of 1.6 billion people, so in reality there is no space for war between India and Pakistan,” Chaudhry said.
– Restraint calls –
Fearing further escalation, global leaders had urged restraint from the arch-enemies with US President Donald Trump announcing the surprise truce.
The ceasefire has held since the weekend, following initial claims of violations from both sides.
But Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a call with UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday, expressed “concerns over the continued provocative and inflammatory remarks by Indian leadership, as a threat to the fragile regional peace”.
India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Thursday that a key water treaty, which governs river water critical to parched Pakistan for consumption and agriculture, would remain suspended until “cross-border terrorism by Pakistan is credibly and irrevocably stopped”.
His counterpart in Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, responded calling the treaty “a no-go area”.
“The treaty can’t be amended, nor can it be terminated by any party unless both agree,” he told parliament.
Militants have stepped up operations on the Indian side of Kashmir since 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked the region’s limited autonomy and imposed direct rule from New Delhi.
Police in Indian-administered Kashmir meanwhile said they killed three suspected militants on Thursday in the town of Tral, in Pulwama district south of Srinagar, the region’s main city.
Police also said three other suspected militants died in a gun battle with soldiers on Tuesday in the southern Kashmir valley.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan, which have fought several wars over the territory since their 1947 independence from British rule.