Only talks on terrorism is recipe for failure: US think-tank

Washington, Aug 28: The talks between India and Pakistan only on terrorism is a recipe for failure, an American expert said on Thursday, warning that any major terrorist attack on India with evidence of that coming from Pakistan would put the two countries on a path of war.

"Only terrorism based (talks between) India and Pakistan is a recipe for failure," Michael Krepon of the Stimson Center told a Washington audience on the occasion of formal launch of a report 'A normal nuclear Pakistan' in collaboration of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"Even one terrorist attack inside (India) with roots from inside Pakistan would put India and Pakistan on a path of war," Krepon said.

The report said that in a decade Pakistan would have over 350 nuclear weapons making it the third largest stockpile of nuclear weapons after the US and Russia.

"Pakistan wants to be viewed as a normal state that possesses nuclear weapons. But it is not a normal state," he said, adding that Islamabad does not have the market or the geo-political clout like India in the international community.

Toby Dalton, a co-author of the report, said Pakistan seeks to be part of the mainstream nuclear community, but it is a tough task given Islamabad's past track record and its continued production of fissile materials.

Pakistan spends one-fifth of what India's defense budget is, but Pakistan's total defense expenditure is one fourth of its GDP. "This is not sustainable," Dalton said.

PTI