Against the backdrop of reports that the US planned to secure Pakistan’s atomic weapons in the event of a Taliban takeover, Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani has said recently that the country would retain its nuclear deterrence at all cost and “no amount of coercion” will force it to compromise on its security interests. Gilani’s comments came in the wake of a report by Fox News channel that the US has a detailed plan for infiltrating Pakistan and securing its mobile arsenal of nuclear warheads if it appears the country is about to fall under the control of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.
Gilani’s comments came in the wake of a report by Fox News channel that the US has a detailed plan for infiltrating Pakistan and securing its mobile arsenal of nuclear warheads if it appears the country is about to fall under the control of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.
And these will be new generation weapons of mass destruction, as Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has confirmed before the US Senate.
US Congressional Report
The recently released US Congressional report has stated that Pakistan with about 60 nuclear warheads; primarily targeted towards India, is continuing production of fissile material for weapons and adding to its weapons production facilities and delivery vehicles.
The latest report by Congressional Research Service (CRS) --a research wing of the US Congress which prepares reports for Congressmen--has confirmed the recent statements and media reports that Pakistan was expanding its nuclear arsenal. “Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal consists of approximately 60 nuclear warheads. It continues fissile material production for weapons, and is adding to its weapons production facilities and delivery vehicles,” stated the report
The report further stated that Islamabad gained technology from many sources, including uranium enrichment technology from Europe, blueprints for a small nuclear weapon and missile technology from China. Pakistan’s nuclear warheads used an implosion design with a solid core of highly enriched uranium, about 15-20 kg per warhead and “Islamabad continues to produce about 100 kg of highly enriched uranium for weapons every year”, the report stated.
Alarming Development
How the US reacts to this alarming development will be interesting to watch, as Washington has been saying that it has “full faith and confidence” in Pakistan President Asif Zardari, who has assured the world that Islamabad’s nukes remain in safe hands. It is surprising how the Americans take Zardari’s words seriously as he may not be even aware of where Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are kept or what the size of the nuclear arsenal is. The control of nuclear weapons remains in the hands of the Pakistan Army and not with the civilian government in Islamabad.
Basic Idea and Planning
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto wanted the Army to give her complete details about her country’s nuclear assets, but in vain. The Pakistan Army does not trust the civilian rulers and hence its reluctance to share with them full information about the location of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. In fact, it was Gen Zia-ul-Haq’s idea to keep his country’s nuclear programme under the control of the Army, which has never loosened its grip on it.
However, what is more worrying is that many of the Islamist recruits of General Zia in the Army are, at present, occupying senior positions. These children of the former military ruler have developed over a period of time, like the Taliban and other jihadi outfits, a hatred for the US.
Nevertheless, the fact that Islamabad’s arsenal is mounting even as the Government’s writ over its own territory is slipping should set alarm bells ringing all over the world. Worse, the US seems oblivious to the fact that the $10 billion in extended civilian and military assistance it has lined up for Pakistan over the next few years will allow the country’s domestic financial resources to be diverted towards this nuclear build-up. Though the circumstances today are radically different, Indians can be forgiven for seeing in this policy a repeat of the indulgence America displayed towards Pakistani nuclear ambitions throughout the 1980s until the brazenness of Islamabad’s programme led to the Pressler Amendment kicking in in 1990.
Dealing Terrorism and Proliferation
The situation in Pakistan is a clear and present danger to US and its friends and allies, and the US knows that the Pakistani military is in large measure responsible for that situation. At the same time, the US has convinced itself that the only way out of the AfPak morass is to create monetary and even political incentives for the same military establishment to get serious about dealing with the menace of terrorism and proliferation.
With the full support of the military establishment, Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan, the country’s nulear scientist, helped to proliferate nuclear weapon technology to North Korea and Libya. Several years after he was busted, the world still does not have a full measure of what the disgraced nuclear scientist got up to. In order to be effective, conditionality in aid need not be overt. However, the US President Barack Obama has to remain focussed on the need for the military establishment in
Some attempt has been made to build performance metrics in to the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation (PEACE) Act but these are being watered down under pressure from those in the administration and Capitol Hill who take a benign view of Pakistani intentions.
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