China is enemy no 1: George

The potential threat from China was greater than that from Pakistan, he said in an interview to a private TV channel, adding that India would exercise the nuclear option if the planned strategic review recommended it. He said his government had changed the nuclear weapons policy in one respect: Earlier nuclear weapons were not ruled out, todaythey have been ruled in.

Fernandes explained that the change in the country’s nuclear weapons policy was due to a change in threat perceptions. “If those threat perceptions are as one visualises them to be after the review then you have no option. If one says options are to be exercised then one exercises them at some point in time. We believe the time has come to exercise the option,” he said.

Asked if he believed statements from across the border (including one from Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif) that Pakistan had a bomb, Fernandes said, “At this point in time I am not convinced whether I should say I believe him.”

On whether the security environment had deteriorated following the test firing of the Ghauri ballistic missile by Pakistan last month, the Defence Minister said, “To a considerable extent it has deteriorated."

"If Ghauri should become operational, large parts of India will be within its striking range,” he added.