For India, security of Pak N-sites is top priority

India will use the security summit in Washington later this month to drive home its concerns about extremists and terrorists gaining access to nuclear  material from Pakistani nuclear sites.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh will attend president Barack Obama’s nuclear safety summit scheduled for April 12-13 with 39 world leaders. They will discuss ways to strengthen the security of nuclear installations. Pakistan’s  prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani is slated to attend but so far no confirmation is available. New Delhi is hoping for Islamabad’s  representation at the highest-level, considering its  worries about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear sites. India  fears that if jihadi groups infiltrate the installations, it will pose a threat to the world community but the danger to India as its nearest  neighbour would be the greatest.
It is well known that the al-Qaeda, Taliban and allied outfits have long wanted to gain access to nuclear material. Indians believe any slip-up on Pakistan’s part in guarding the nuclear sites will be disastrous. This is why New Delhi is keen that Islamabad attends the summit and continues to make sure there is no security breach at the nuclear establishments.

With suicide bombers daring to attack even well-fortified Pakistan army headquarters in Rawalpindi, there is no surety that a daring plan to breach the security of nuclear sites is not being contemplated. Till recently,  jihadi groups  have been operating freely in Pakistan and Afghanistan and carrying out deadly attacks.
Since 2002, India has been sponsoring a resolution at the UN on preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery. The resolution  is adopted each year at the UN. President Barack Obama has made the eventual elimination of nuclear arms a central part of his foreign policy.

India has supported the initiative, saying it has always attached the highest importance to the goal of nuclear disarmament.