India's secret "nuclear city" threatens to undermine the strategic balance of power in South Asia, charged rival Pakistan, saying India has been testing intercontinental missiles and had enough nuclear material to make nearly 500 bombs.
Pakistan's claim came through foreign office spokesman Nafees Zakaria on Thursday, said The Hindu.
Quoting a report from the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, a Pakistani think tank, Zakaria claimed that enough material and the technical capacity to produce from 356 and 492 nuclear bombs.
"Pakistan remains committed to the principles of peaceful existence with all of its neighbors, including India, and the Indian government should reciprocate the steps taken by Pakistan for peace," said Zakaria.
Others echoed him at Zakaria's press briefing.
"There is a fear that the Indian reactors not mandated by the safeguards might be used clandestinely for plutonium production and the existing stockpiles might be diverted to a military program at a subsequent stage," said Kamran Akhtar, an official at Pakistan's Foreign Office.
India's external affairs ministry pushed back on the allegation, saying that the country has a strong standing for "a responsible nuclear doctrine" internationally, said NDTV.
"The so-called secret city appears to be a figment of the Pakistan (sic) imagination," the ministry said. "India has always been in compliance with all its international obligations."
A ministry representative, Vikas Swarup, said Pakistan's claim of a "nuclear city" was baseless, reported the Indian Express.
"This aims to deflect attention from real issue of terrorism," Swarup said. "It is high time Pakistan gets the diagnosis of the problem right. It should not remain in denial on the impact of cross border terrorism on the bilateral relationship. Both the problem and its solution are within Pakistan’s reach."
India and Pakistan have been rivals since both becoming independent nations in 1947, with Pakistan becoming a homeland for the Muslim-majority areas of the subcontinent, while India proposed to become a secular nation that included about 85 percent Hindus, noted Asia Society.org.