Pakistan Denies Reports it Is Expanding Nuclear Arsenal

Pakistan denied it was expanding its nuclear arsenal, a week after the top U.S. military officer said there was evidence it was doing so.Pakistan is battling a growing insurgency by Islamist militants with links to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Washington is considering giving it billions of dollars in aid to help fight the insurgents, who are also blamed for attacks on U.S. and foreign troops in neighboring Afghanistan.At a congressional panel last week, Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked whether there was evidence that Pakistan was adding to its nuclear weapons systems and warheads. He simply replied: "Yes."But Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira denied that assertion Monday."Pakistan does not need to expand its nuclear arsenal but we want to make it clear that we will maintain a minimum nuclear deterrence that is essential for our defense and stability," he said. "We will not make any compromise."Pakistan, a desperately poor country of 170 million people, is thought to posses more than 60 nuclear weapons under a program that began when its traditional enemy, India, started producing them.