The focus of this work is to determine whether the Western experts' apprehensions on the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear installations and fissile material are well founded or an exaggeration. The decades-old nuclear trade between Pakistan and other countries has also been discussed with a view to highlighting the fact that A. Q. Khan's proliferation linkages did not come as a surprise to the US, emphasizing the point that Washington had been turning a blind eye to the nuclear linkages and programmes for its own strategic interests. The study also holds that NPT has been unsuccessful in controlling nuclear proliferation and suggests ways to curb further proliferation.