The Nuclear Noose Around Pakistan’s Neck

Dr. Hoodbhoy seems to be a lone crusader in the pakistani scientific establishment to rid itself of corruption and association with army mullah nexus. It`ll be way to diificult tjough given the fact that for paki people too such characters are national heroes.

A.Q Khan is playing the same game that pak army has always feast upon the fear of paki people (real or imagined).

Adios

ferozk,

[More harm has been done to the interests of Pakistan in the name of Ummah and Islam than by anyone else and this has to stop and national interest has to reinforced and made the top concern of the nation over everything else.]

Feroz, with all due respect, this is nonsense. Pakistan may pay lip service to the Ummah and pan-Islamism, however it has never, to my knowledge, actually acted on this in any tangible way. Pakistan has never sacrificed anything for this ``ideal``, nor has it ever acted for purely ideological reasons. Pakistan has always, and will continue, to put it`s national interest first - or rather, the army will continue to put their interests first.

That Pakistan was most likely receiving something in return for it’s nuke technology, and that one of the nations was North Korea puts this `for the Ummah` theory down the drain.

Here we have a case of harm being done precisely by a blind and shortsighted (i.e. ``over everything else``) view of what Pakistan`s national interests. This has nothing to do with the Ummah or Islam. Let`s give that old goat a rest on this one...

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.......... the whole issue of non-proliferation is nonsense ........ if we can hold international bazaars to sell bombs, planes, tanks, mines and other weapons of customized destruction why is it wrong to sell atom bombs which do the same job quickly and efficiently?.......... the objective, after all, is to kill as many people as possible ............. isn`t it ? ............ the whole thing smacks of hypocrisy and stupidity ............

............ now, i am not saying aq khan was right to do what he did ............ if he did it for personal gain then he is guilty of corruption and treason and should be hung from the nearest tree........ but in principle the concept of non-proliferation is unworkable ............. if a country like pakistan, where most people lack indoor plumbing, can make the bomb it can`t be be all that difficult .............the current approach to this technology is sort of egalitarian and simply not fair ............in the spirit of capitalism and free markets we should turn over this industry to ge or proctor and gamble so that more people can afford to put a bomb in their garage or cow shed ......... with the avian flu and all forget about that chicken in the pot .............

............ and since india made its mad scientist the president (gawd, the man is ugly!) i suggest we should replace musharraf with aq khan, revoke the lfo and the umpteenth amendments, and lock him up in the presidency ..............

What rubbish! All this witch-hunting of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan now by Musharraf is a puppet who does everything America asks him to do. This is what you get with such leaders who are baymaan.

Mark my words eventually USA will ask Musharraf to shut down pakistan`s nuclear programme and he`ll probably agree! Bring back Nawaz Sharif--who was the democratically elected leader :-)

No one worries about nuclear proliferation when Israel or a white South Africa (before they destroyed it) or other European countries have access to such technology. Only seems a concern when countries America doesn`t like have such technology. I am against nuclear weapons but until every single country in the world agrees to destroy all existing weapons there is nothing wrong with pakistan having them or sharing technology with others of its own choosing. After all no one questions the Yanks when they transfer advanced weapons to their allies. People are only concerned when Muslim countries might get the bomb...
but North Korea and the occupation of iraq show that only countries with nukes are safe from colonization.

As for people like Hoodhboy he is the lowest of the low, badmouthing his country in the foreign press. He should be put on trial for treason. So should Musharraf if he gets rid of pakistan`s nuclear programme. In the USA Oppenheimer et al from the Manhattan Project were treated like heroes...the sheer hypocrisy of it all STINKS.

Currently, I am too upset and angry to write anything on this topic. The cowradice of despots of Pak Army and shamelessnes of treasnous snakes like hoodbhoy make me sick to my stomach.

Excuse me.

Arjun_M:

Zakk is right. Legally speaking, Pakistan is under NO pbligations. It, and India, are not signatories to the NPT. Having said that, I was in Chicago when India went nuclear in 1998. No amount of explaing by the Indians (of having not broken any promises since they did not sign CTBT or NPT) dulled the outrage in the clinton admin.

Reason Pakistan is making AQ Khan the fall guy is coz their chaddis are in a know over a Bush admin not limiting itself to legality when it comes to American self interest. Basically, what it comes down to is Might is Right. Morally, no country can be blamed for trying to acquire nukes. OTOH, powerful countries have the right to prevent that from happening. Treaties are worth nothing.

Dr. PH. This is a con job by you and you know it. What AQ Khan did, is now a minor issue. The bigger issue is that the army despite 25 years of warnings from the west, failed to maintain control over the nukes.
Dr. Kissinger warned Pakistan in 1975-76. Subsequent US admin have been bringing up this issue with Pakistan even sanctions were placed against Pakistan. President Reagan helped Pakistan during the afghan crisis on explicit understanding that Pakistan would maintain a strict control over its Nuke program. IAEA and the EU have shown their concern multiple times. Despite all this, the rogue elements within the Army itself encouraged the scientists to compromise nuke knowledge. Isn’t it true that Gen. Zia was the first person to make money out of the nukes? Wasn’t A Q khan just following the orders initially?
Why is investigation limited to just scientists and some low-level security officers? It is now common knowledge that almost all previous COAS of the army had some involvement in the monetary and authorization side of it. It is all over the papers that Mirza Aslam Beg, the bumbling former COAS of the Army was in the thick of the things and why is he being let Scot-free when the scientists are being subjected to interrogations and possible time in slammer? How many sacred cows within the army are involved in money and breach of security at the “bum Factory”?
We have known it all along that the Army Generals past or present have been incompetent. It was expected that they would at least keep a good control over the security matters. Now it is clear that they have compromised the one security issue that they needed to show some maturity in.
The much-touted command and control structure of Pakistan is nothing more than hogwash and a moneymaking device for the Army generals. Unfortunately these bumbling generals have finally put a huge nail in Pakistan’s Sovereignty.
How much control Musharaf has over Pakistan at this time? Two assassination attempts were made on Musharaf in December. All top generals, top bureaucrats and top politicians in Islamabad know who was behind those attempts. Why Musharaf can’t arrest these guys?They belong in a slammer not in their cushy positions in Islamabad. Musharaf is in total control in throwing the civilian politicians out of the country but he can not move against the people who actually tried to kill him.
The National Security council is being revived to start Group Presidency in Pakistan. Musharaf lacks the ability to lead the country. I heard that he likes to cry when he hears of his fellow generals’ incompetence stories.
Recently, it came out that the US is beefing up it forces in the region. It seems possible that those forces are not meant of Afghanistan but they are meant for Pakistan. The US ostensibly would like to ensure that the rogue elements do not remove Musharaf. In case that happens, the US army would be nearby to take control of the nuke and is able to intimidate the new people into order takers. Ultimately, the Pakistan’s sovereignty would be trounced for whole world to see. Something that was happening covertly anyway, now we will see that happening overtly.
Dr. PH you can continue your hogwash.

Pervez Hoodbhoy, like many other sane and intelligent Pakistanis, has spoken the truth. It doesn’t matter where his truth is printed. Pakistan should be very proud of Hoodbhoy. It is very apparent that he loves and cares deeply about Pakistan.

This statement from the article says it all:

“[Pakistan`s establishment] wanted (and gained) the support of hundreds of millions of Muslims the world over by claiming to provide a Muslim success story. (That this involved replicating a 60-year-old technology for mass destruction is a sad commentary on the state of the Muslim world.)”

Sad indeed.

Mr Hoodbouy was in a recent ARY TV Political Discussion show called ``Amna Samna``. He bravely spoke about the delusional nature of Nuclear Weapons and National Security. His arguments were sincere and rational. His opponent Mushahid Hussain was howeve full of patriotic fervour and Nationalist inclinations. But he made a point towards the end which put the brakes on my siding with Mr Hoodbuoy. The existence of the Nuclear Bomb which Mr Hoodbuoy Challenges is a rhetorical Load of Bull. It is not valid anymore. We cannot question its existence.

There is not a single hint in Mr Hoodbouy article about the pressure on the third world countries to develop these Nuclear Bombs. How America and its ``Bomb em if we feel like it`` pre-emption policies are bolstering these international Nuclear Jumma Bazaars. What is his stand on this. Or is it OK to bash Pakistan and rhetorical to question the US Policies?

“[Pakistan`s establishment] wanted (and gained) the support of hundreds of millions of Muslims the world over by claiming to provide a Muslim success story. (That this involved replicating a 60-year-old technology for mass destruction is a sad commentary on the state of the Muslim world.)”

Sad indeed

This is just total bollocks, have the esteemed author and Godot ever tried to understand about the implications of nuclear research. Pakistan or Middle Eastern students are not allowed admission in any of the Nuclear Research Programs. Lets not dish AQ Khans achievement from 3 decades ago, if it may even have been sabotage of information we needed to develop what was developed. Lets keep this argument specific to the megalamaniac AQ Khan and not the man who actually did provide Pakistan with a deterrent to the Indian threat.

My Question to Godot

A Nuclear India and a Non-Nuclear Pakistan
A Nuclear India and a Nuclear Pakistan

Pick your Deterrent Sir.

I know that we have paid for this bomb through our backsides, but we have to carefully analyse where we would have been without it. North Korea threatened the US with a Nuclear Attack if the US even thought about attaking its land. Without a Nuclear Deterrent North Korea would not have been able to put up such a defense. If You feel that this 60 year old technology is sad, then please provide us with alternatives to upgrade it.

All this probably looks strange from San Jose or Toronto, I am sure....

All fellow Chowkies and Hoodbhoy:

This is a much more reliable article based on historic data:

Go to:

http://www.jang-group.com/thenews/index.html

look under `Opinion` and read the following article:

Nuclear proliferation: discriminatory policies
by
Alauddin Masood

The whole article is a must read. However, opening paragraphs are very interesting:

``Following the Soviet Union’s collapse, the world witnessed a spectre of rampant nuclear proliferation, fuelled by thefts and leakages of fissile material, in the former Soviet republics. Some 20 seizures of weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium, believed to have originated from those states, are reported to have been recorded internationally in the last decade alone.

1996, CIA’s Director, John Deutch, in a testimony before a US Senate Committee, narrated many cases of nuclear smuggling, involving nationals of 18 countries. However, no Pakistani national was involved in any of those cases.

Thefts and leakages of fissile material also did take place in the USA in the 1990s. However, after initial reports, suggesting that the stolen material might have found its way to Israel, the mass media adopted a complete silence, as if nothing had happened. It is common knowledge that the Zionist state has vigorously pursued its clandestine nuclear programme, since early 50s, in collaboration with the USA and the West, and has stockpiled 300 to 350 nuclear weapons over the years.``

This last paragraph is a key. Pakistani Government has intelligently, and quite correctly, started investigations at home to punish the culprits on one hand and has mentioned the existence of other scientists and the under world involved in black marketing on the other.

Unfortunately for fundoo Indoos proliferating Chowk and Indian press, if Uncle Sam points a stringent finger at Pakistan, 3 remaining ones point towards itself, which means towards Israel. The thumb points above towards the Supreme Being (meaning only He knows who else is involved and has benefitted).

:-)

godot: while i admire hoodbhoy for standing up to militarists and mullahs, he goes too far in this article. Nowhere does he mention the fact that nuclear weapons are what prevented india from sending its million man army marching into pakistan just an year ago. Nowhere does he mention that crowing that Advani and co. did in 1998 about things being different from now on in kashmir after India blasted five nuclear weapons next to our borders.

He does injustice to himself and to the cause of peace in south asia when he pillories pakistan for what is right.

hamidm: I beg to differ on Qadeer. He no doubt made a fundamental contribution to the defense of Pakistan when he built the bomb. However, that does not give him the right to be corrupt - to misuse PAF cargo planes to carry his furniture to timbuctou, to put Pakistan`s nuclear weapons at risk by running his own nuclear proliferation business on the side. The man should be punished. Others in cahoots with him should be exposed and punished as well. There is no shortage of nuclear scientists in Pakistan, and far from jeopardizing our defense this clean-up will in fact strengthen it.

Qadeer Khan: A great muslim; a great Pakistani
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Even if third world countries develop nuclear weapons, is it any kind of deterrent against America? The tactical showmanship by these countries would deem a response so biblical that would make sodom and gamorrah look like St. Lucia.

What this episode has shown is that Pakistan, a most enterprising and entrepreneurial in the procurement and proliferament of deadly technologies, simply could not keep the gains to itself. Nuclear weapons were a competitive advantage for pakistan, not a linux based open source system to be licensed out. Tomorrow if IRan decided to share there secrets with Karzai and the powers that be in Afghanistan, I cna only imagine the response in Pakistan.

Arjun another temper tantrum...:)..Rest assured India is under no obligation as well...and I don`t represent the Pakistani government ;)