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Are Pakistan's nukes in safe hands?The POST, Sun, Dec,09, 2007.Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema
Pakistan’s nuclear assets have always attracted negative interpretations especially in the Western countries. It is not very unusual to find fabricated stories appearing periodically in the print media. When the Pakistan’s nuclear program was in its early stages, a series of articles highlighting how Pakistan is trying to acquire necessary component in order to make the bomb were frequently given prominent places on the front pages of newspapers and popular magazines. The initial thrust of such articles was preventive in nature. The main focus was to malign Pakistan and try to prevent Pakistan from acquiring the nuclear weapons. In many ways the attitude seems somewhat similar to what is being done to Iran. The threats of aid cut along with punitive measures were suggested from time to time. In fact during the last few years of the 70’s decade, the aid was virtually cut on the suspicions that Pakistan had embarked upon the forbidden path. While the beginning of 80s saw certain amount of relaxation on this front primarily because the US needed Pakistan to prosecute its war against the Soviets who had occupied Afghanistan. In fact the Americans wanted to bleed the Soviets in the same manner the Soviets had bled the Americans in the Vietnam War. At the time it was imperative to secure the blessings of the Pakistanis. Consequently one finds the critics avoiding efforts that could annoy Pakistan. Once having secured the Pakistanis’ support and involvement in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, the American officials once again began to respond to the efforts to curb Pakistan’s quest for nuclear weapons. It is interesting to note that no such efforts were made to dissuade the Indians apart from paying a lip service. Even after the first Indian nuclear explosion in 1974, the reaction of the American critics was extremely muted. After the second explosion, the American response was even more intriguing. Unable to influence the Indian in order to prevent them from acquiring nuclear weapons, the Western analysts began to put pressure on Pakistan with the objective of securing Pakistan’s signature to NPT. The western analysts thought that they would be in a stronger position to dissuade India if they can get Pakistan on board. While they refrained from putting much pressure on India as they realized that India would dismiss their efforts with contempt, they focused on Pakistan with all the venom they could muster employing all kinds of fabricated stories. Once the two countries acquired the forbidden weapons, the immediate response was to impose sanctions upon them only to be lifted later. For few years the critics applied same yardstick to both India and Pakistan but when it was decided to make India a strategic partner, all pressures on India were gradually eliminated but Pakistan continued to remain a target for biting criticism. With the emergence of regrouped Taliban and the rapidly deteriorating of situation in Afghanistan, the American media began to blame Pakistan for not doing enough in order to prevent the cross border infiltration. Consequently one saw series of articles appearing in western media asking Pakistan to do more on one hand and stories about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal falling into the wrong hands also began to make headlines in many western media on the other. On its part, Pakistan intensified its efforts to plug the illegal crossings of Durand Line and sent regular Pakistani troops to the tribal area. In addition it accelerated the developmental work as well as initiated a process of political negotiations. Some successes were met but the areas like Waziristan continued to cause troubles for Pakistani authorities. In addition, the militants also made inroads to Swat area. With the advent of emergency and consequential strong army action against the militants, the situation both in Swat and other parts of tribal areas considerably improved. Despite the successes of the army, the critics continued to throw punches against Pakistan. Based on the fallacious assumption that the entire tribal area and even parts of area like Swat are going to enable the militants to lay their hands on the nuclear assets of Pakistan, not only the media analysts who continued to highlight the likelihood of nuclear assets falling into the wrong hands but even the official began to undertake simulation war games. Far from comprehending the ground realities, the minor successes of the militants were projected as if they about to get control of most part of Pakistan and consequently those of nuclear assets. Nothing can be further from the truth. Not only the Pakistan’s foreign office dismissed such claims but also once again reasserted that the ‘strategic assets are as safe as that of any other nuclear weapon state and those assets are fully safeguarded and secure under the protection of a well established command and control system’. Almost all Pakistanis agree with foreign office’s assertion. The intriguing question that haunts the minds of many Pakistanis is that why do the western critics persist in this direction? Are they genuinely convinced of danger of nuclear weapons falling into wrong hands or they are undertaking such a maligning campaign against Pakistan at the behest of some anti-Pakistan forces actively operating in the US or is it par of the reflection of known western bias against Islam as Pakistan is the only Muslim countries which has acquired such weapons through its indigenous efforts? Many in Pakistan are also comparing the dissuasive campaign launched by the West against India with the current preventive campaign against Iran. There appears to be unanimity of views that the campaign against Iran is far more forceful coordinated and well planned than what the world experienced against India. The inevitable conclusion seem to be that west never wanted any of the Muslim countries to acquire such weapon and this belief has further strengthened after the tragic events of 9/11. As has been pointed out by an eminent US based Pakistani scholar who had served the Strategic Plan Division that holding of such war games aimed to explore the possibilities of capturing Pakistan’s nuclear weapons has not only antagonized many Pakistanis and even angered many among the thinking public in Pakistan but it has further contributed towards the incumbent alarmingly high anti-US sentiments. The belief that many in the west are not yet reconciled with Pakistan’s possession of nuclear weapons is further strengthened.
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