Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has acutely questioned the security of Pakistan's nuclear stockpile, urging its immediate monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) following what he termed repeated and irresponsible nuclear threats from Islamabad. Addressing soldiers at the Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar on Thursday, Singh said, "Today, from the soil of Srinagar, I want to ask this question-whether nuclear weapons are secure in the hands of such an irresponsible and rogue state. I think that Pakistan's nuclear weapons should be brought under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).".
Singh's comments follow just days after India and Pakistan narrowly averted a significant military escalation, following India's attacks on suspected terrorist training camps in Pakistan in retaliation for the Pahalgam attack, and subsequent missile and drone strikes by both the two nuclear-armed neighbours. He blamed Pakistan for nuclear blackmail, asserting that India's military forces did not allow such tactics to make them desist from their operations: "The entire world has witnessed how irresponsibly Pakistan threatened India. We did not even bother about their nuclear blackmail.".
The Defence Minister’s call for global scrutiny reflects growing concerns in New Delhi about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, especially given Pakistan’s history of political instability and its “first-use” nuclear policy. Singh’s demand for IAEA oversight echoes Prime Minister Modi’s recent tough stance, and comes amid international anxiety over the risks posed by nuclear weapons in South Asia’s volatile security environment.
Pakistan has not made an official response yet to Singh's remarks. The Vienna-based IAEA is the UN's nuclear watchdog and it oversees the uses of nuclear materials for peaceful purposes only. There has been no evidence of any leak of radiation or any nuclear accident in Pakistan in the recent war, the IAEA states.
Singh's words have fuelled controversy over nuclear security in the region, with India maintaining that the world needs to act to ensure that nuclear weapons do not continue in the possession of what it refers to as a "rogue nation".
