Pakistan and India in talks to avert nuclear 'havoc'

Pakistan and India held talks Tuesday to hammer out an agreement on giving advance warning of ballistic missile tests and other steps to avert any accidental launch of nuclear weapons. The meeting between senior officials from the South Asian neighbours, part of a slow-moving peace process begun in January, focused on so-called nuclear confidence-building measures. “Today, they zeroed in on the draft agreement on pre-notifictaion of flight testing of ballistic missiles,” foreign office spokesman Masood Khan told AFP. “If finalised it would be submitted to the foreign secretaries of the two countries, who are due to meet on the 27th and 28th of this month,” Khan said. With a chequered history of relations, including three wars since independence in 1947, India and Pakistan “have to be responsible nuclear weapons states,” Khan said. “There should not be an accidental or unauthorised launch or exchange of nuclear weapons. That will cause havoc,” he said, adding that the measures under discussion would create an environment for “nuclear risk reduction.”Full Story