Pakistan: Inside The Nuclear Closet

tahmed

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better a monkey or gorilla with honour, ghayrat and IMAN then a heretic like you...

#21 by hamidm2
//.......... i think gorillas with razors are more dangerous than monkeys ........... //

Of Course :) But then, who will tell the Gorilla?

According to reports - US was supposed to have traded uranium-related stuff to some 40+ other countries. And it was China who was the original proliferator - transferred some old nuke tech to Pakis back in 60`s or something. But nobody is pointing fingers at them. That`s the advantage of being a Gorilla, I guess.

So - if you are small guy then you shouldn`t play the big guys` game. If you do - you should know your place and step gingerly. If you found a razor - then keep it sheathed. You don`t go around flaunting it ..... you don`t threaten everybody around or pass copies of it to other lunatics. If you do - well, we now know what happens. You loose.

Pakistan lost the nukes. Good riddance.

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Prof. Hoodbhoy: Please stop writing articles on chowk. You are giving diarrhea to our local population of monkeys and gorillas. Poor Naqshbandi hasnt eaten in two days, he is so upset. And wait till our African howling monkey to show up...

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mohar,

.......... i think gorillas with razors are more dangerous than monkeys ...........

In fact, this is a well put together article.

But there are many take home questions at the end...
- Is there any character of the nation?
- Is it an occasional oversight or prevalent tradition to make heroes out of ordinary men in the one go and then declare them evil genius in the next one ?
- How are heroes even decalared heroes ?
- The last guy that I have heard of as an evil genuis was Bhutto. I still have not comprehended why was he both an evil as well as a genuis.
- I do not think that we should have any universities teaching sciences or technology to anyone. We should convert them into learning institutes, assisting the nation top down and bottom up, in building some character. That`s the need of the day!

from `Eat the State.` Feb 2004



The Real WMD Threat: Pakistan

by Maria Tomchick


George Bush`s solution to the Iraq intelligence scandal--a new ``bipartisan`` investigative panel, whose members, appointed by Bush, are neocons and Democratic pro-war hawks--will probably be a whitewash, but the panel is serving a useful purpose for the Bush administration: it`s distracting the media and the public from hearing the details about the worst case in modern history of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has, in recent weeks, uncovered the shocking revelation that Pakistan, the US` long-time ally, has sold nuclear technology and equipment to Libya, North Korea, and Iran. General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani President, has been quick to blame the head scientist in Pakistan`s nuclear weapons program, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, as a lone agent selling information for personal gain. But the truth is far more disturbing.

Pakistan`s trade in secret weapons technology has been going on since at least the 1980s. Pakistani and British newspapers have listed some of the details, including former Prime Minister Benazir Butto`s trip to North Korea in 1994, where she traded nuclear weapons blueprints for medium-range missile technology at the request of the Pakistani army chief of staff. WMD experts and Pakistani political analysts say that the Pakistani military, which has effectively run the country since independence, has always kept tight control over the facilities where Dr. Khan worked and would`ve had knowledge of his activities, if not actually signed off on them. News has leaked that nuclear centrifuges were shipped to Libya on Pakistani military cargo planes.

Dr. Khan, for his part, confessed last week that three consecutive chiefs of staff of the Pakistani army were involved in approving the trade in nuclear weapons technology with North Korea. This includes Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan`s current president. In a move to silence Khan, Musharraf asked him to sign a confession--under duress, according to Khan`s family and opposition politicians--and then Musharraf pardoned Khan from prosecution. A trial would bring out the dirty details and expose the full extent of Pakistani government and military complicity in arming its trading partners in violation of international treaties.

Has George Bush called for the removal of Gen. Musharraf from power in Pakistan? Has he called him a grave and impending threat to international security? Of course not. Musharraf is perceived as the only bastion against a growing Islamic fundamentalist movement in Pakistan. As a secular government, albeit one with an atrocious human rights record, Pakistan is deemed a valuable ally in fighting the resurgent Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan, in spite of the Pakistani military`s history of having fostered the Taliban, and current suspicions that it could be doing more to clamp down on them now. The Pakistani military`s bloody record in suppressing the Kashmiri separatist movement argues for a capability that it hasn`t shown regarding Taliban recruiters who now have free run of Pakistani border towns and villages.

None of this serves as an adequate excuse for allowing Pakistan to sell proscribed and highly dangerous technology. The Reagan administration knew that Pakistan was building a nuclear weapon in the early 1980s, as a secret State Department briefing memo date June 23, 1983, can attest. The Clinton administration slapped sanctions on Pakistan when it tested its first nuclear bomb in May 1998, and US intelligence analysts have known for some time that Pakistan`s medium-range missiles are based on North Korean technology. As recently as late 2002 and early 2003, US officials confronted Pakistan with evidence that North Korean nuclear technology was based on Pakistani designs.

But instead of declaring a war against the real purveyor of WMD, the Bush administration lifted sanctions against Pakistan in 2002, in the hopes of using Pakistan as a base to stage the war against Afghanistan. The Bush administration then went on to give the Pakistani government millions in US taxpayer funds: $375 million in 2003, and the current budget for the 2004-5 fiscal year would increase that amount to a staggering $700 million.

To reward a nation that`s done more than any other to arm Bush`s ``Axis of Evil`` highlights the enormous hypocrisy of George W. Bush`s entire foreign policy and makes a complete lie of Bush`s program of preemptive war. It reveals that the Bush administration could care less about WMD and international security. The new panel Bush has appointed should not examine US intelligence services--they`ve been doing their job quite adequately in regards to Pakistan, the real WMD threat--but the Bush administration`s terrible mismanagement and misuse of the United States` whole foreign policy apparatus.


Sources for this article: ``Musharraf knew I was selling secrets, says nuclear scientist,`` James Astill, The Guardian, 2/4/04, http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4850959-103595,00.html

``Musharraf named in Nuclear Probe,`` John Lancaster and Kamran Khan, Washington Post, 2/3/04, p. A13, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6884-2004Feb2?language=printer

``Dr. Qadeer `forced` to give statement,`` The Dawn (Pakistan), 2/6/04, http://www.dawn.com/2004/02/06/nat9.htm

``Pakistan`s Nuclear Crimes,`` WP, 2/5/04, p. A20, http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A14272-2004Feb4?language=printer

``Pakistan Caught in a Web of Evidence,`` Douglas Frantz, Paul Watson, and Mubashir Zaidi, Los Angeles Times,`` 2/3/04

``ARD planning to launch remove-Musharraf drive,`` The Dawn, 2/6/04, http://www.dawn.com/2004/02/06/nat2.htm

``After the apology,`` The Dawn, 2/6/04, http://www.dawn.com/2004/02/06/ed.htm

``$700 million US funding likely,`` The Dawn, 2/5/04, http://www.dawn.com/2004/02/05/top12.htm

``Pakistanis Question Official Ignorance of Atom Transfers,`` David Rohde, New York Times, 2/3/04

``UN nuclear watchdog to persist in inquiry despite Pakistani refusals,`` Agence France Presse, 2/6/04.

Folks,

The saga of the arrogant Abdul Xerox Khan is not over. If you all will notice, the US did not utter a word at the drama that was played out on TV. They just let it be known via underlings that the ``administration`` is pleased at the steps taken. Their official reponse will of course depend upon the public opinion back home. That I am afraid is becoming worse by the day. Pakistan`s image is taking a serious beating in the eyes of the American public.

The Americans are clearly biding their time. By keeping quiet, they are extracting their pound of flesh right now. Pakistan is being made to make another U-turn as we speak. This time it appears -- based on the headlines -- that they have not only decided to raid the FATA and clean it out, but also have apperently allowed the Americans to send in a huge force to hunt Osama and party there. Catching Osama is the TOP PRIORITY for them. We all know about the Nov 2004 deadline. Once Osama is caught, I think AXK turn will come...

The US provided such solid evidence on AXK that Mushy was forced to act on a ``Herrow`` of Pakistan. One wonders for how long they had this evidence and if they had it for some time, then why did they choose this particular time to leak it? Makes you wonder what else they have up their sleeve right? It appears what they revealed was enough for another of Mushy`s famous U-Turns. Maybe it is time for Mushy to think strategically for a change and fix the other burning problem at hand -- Kashmir -- without someone squeezing his proverbial testimonials eh?

Also, Mushy, -- ``The tactical genius`` -- by IMMEDIATELY pardoning AXK, not only cheapened the value of himself and that of a ``Presidential Pardon``, but also may have signed Khan`s death warrant. I have a strong feeling that Mr AXK will not die a natural death. I do hope AXK and his family have the wherwithal to survive the wrath of the ISI and the CIA. I wonder what is on the secret tapes AXK allegdedly smuggled out of Pakistan.

I wish Pakistan had the sense to not let Osama get into FATA in the first place and not let this get to this stage. They would not only have reaped a much bigger reward for the eventual capture of Osama, but kept many of their national secrets ``intact``. Now these U-turns and the capture of Osama could lead to a ``confrontation`` at the best and a civil war at the worst between the islamists and the ``others`` in Pakistan. Being an Indian, I have to tell you that neither is in the best interests of the people of India in general and the Indian Muslims in particular.

However, as they say, every dark cloud has a silver lining, accordingly, there is one good thing to come out of this as far as India is concerned, I will leave it your imagination to figure out what that is...

Prof Hoodbhoy
That for many years Pakistani institutions have engaged in proliferation of technology for nuclear weapons under the noses of the US, that is a issue for outrage for some. That there was/is a nuclear blackmarket in which not just Pakistanis, but individuals from all over the world are active and the world appears to reproach only Pakistani individuals and institutions - that is a source of outrage for some others.

But IMO, many including yourself are missing the real issue. A large part of transfer of technology took place in the same period that the Pakistani establishment was actively attempting to extend the Taliban experiment to other regions in Central Asia, including Kashmir, at a time when people like Aslam Beg and Hamid Gul were in ascendant. I

t took place at a time when control over Central Asian republics, breaking up of India, destruction of Israel etc via Islamist ideology and military conquest was professedly the grandiose national vision. In that context, for Pakistanis to be allying with organisations such as Al Qaeda or with Muslim countries hostile to Israel or the US was a matter of making common cause towards these national goals.

So, the question now is, did proliferation really result from mere greed and corruption of a few individuals or did it take place under auspices of the above-mentioned vision?

Have all elements of the Pakistani establishment really abandoned the vision of extending the armed Islamist enterprise into other countries via jihad and the nuclear bum? If they have indeed given up their vision, how much have those who have not, such as Al Qaeda and others, already benefitted via their connection with the Pakistani establishment?

Simply because Musharraf professes `moderation` from every podium and another individual AQ Khan apologized on TV, the US appears to think this should serve as sufficient evidence for the world that all is clear within the Pakistani establishment on this count. Is it indeed so or is the Pakistani establishment being expedient too? And what is Pakistani public opinion on this either way?

#8 by hamidm2 on March 7, 2004 8:58am PT
//.. where do you go from here? ..//

That`s easy actually. The Islamic Bomb is a dud. So you just move on.

Pakistan with nukes is like a Monkey with a razor. It gives the monkey a false feeling of strength and invinciblity. It thinks it can take on the 800-pound Gorilla in the neighborhood. Ultimately the monkey ends up in hurting itself.

Americans allowed the monkey arm itself. That was a big mistake.

Why do pakis need nukes anyway? No nukes .... no false feeling of strength ....hence no undue desire for the neighbors` properties .... and hence no threat from anybody .... hence no need of the nukes. It`s virtuous cycle.

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agree 100% with urstruly bhai. the biggest threat to pakistan`s security are traitors like dr. pervez hoodbhoy. this article itself should be enough to have him convicted for treason. he should be made and example of by the pakistani government to deter any other agents in their midst.

romair as to your question about why the religious people have stayed silent on the fact that both libya and iran betrayed pakistan by mentioning our name to the inspoectors i can tell you that i for one was not surprised: throughout history shias (iran) have stabbed sunnis in the back when it has suited them and as for gaddafi the guy is a heretic who tried to write his own little green book mixing islam, socialising etc...

the only country we should exchange such weapons with is the Land of the Two Holy Sanctuaries...

An AP report says:
``U.N. investigators are increasingly certain Pakistan government leaders knew the country`s top atomic scientist was supplying other nations with nuclear technology and designs, particularly North Korea, diplomats told The Associated Press.``

WHAT ARE THESE UN INVESTIGATORS SMOKING? THEY ARE STILL IN DOUBT? NO WONDER NUKE PROLIFERATION HAPPENED. THESE IDIOTS DON`T HAVE BALLS TO SAY THE OBVIOUS TRUTH.


AP: Pakistan Knew of Nuclear Black Market


Email this Story

Mar 7, 1:25 PM (ET)

By GEORGE JAHN


VIENNA, Austria (AP) - U.N. investigators are increasingly certain Pakistan government leaders knew the country`s top atomic scientist was supplying other nations with nuclear technology and designs, particularly North Korea, diplomats told The Associated Press.

While rogue nations were the main customers of the nuclear black market, sales of enriched uranium and warhead drawings have fed international fears that terrorists also could have bought weapons technology or material, the diplomats said.

The investigation has widened beyond Iran, Libya and North Korea - the identified customers of the network headed by Abdul Qadeer Khan - they said, speaking on condition of anonymity in a series of interviews.

The diplomats` assessment comes about half way through the probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency and western intelligence services into the Khan network, whose tentacles extended from Pakistan to Dubai, Malaysia, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Britain, the Netherlands and beyond with potential ties to Syria, Turkey and Spain.

Investigators told AP they expect to complete the probe by June, eight months after U.S. officials confronted the Pakistani government with suspicions about Khan, setting into motion events that led the father of Islamabad`s nuclear program to confess last month.

Despite denials by the Pakistani government, investigators now are certain that some, if not all, of the country`s decision makers were aware of Khan`s dealings, especially with North Korea, which apparently helped Islamabad build missiles in exchange for aid with its nuclear arms program, said one diplomat.

``In all cases except Pakistan, we are sure there was no government involvement,`` he said. ``In Pakistan, it`s hard to believe all this happened under their noses and nobody knew about it.``

The diplomats didn`t say which parts of the Pakistani government might have known of Khan`s black market activity - military, political or both.

Andrew Koch, of Jane`s Defense Weekly, said he ran into evidence that senior military officers knew of Khan`s sideline four years ago when he attended a military technology exhibition in Karachi. There, the booth of A.Q. Khan`s Research Laboratories, complete with pamphlets offering uranium enrichment equipment, shared space with displays of electronics, anti-tank missiles and other items sold by the government defense industry, he said.

``I picked up the (Khan) brochures and I inquired whether everything inside was for sale and was told, `yes, of course, it all had government approval and was available for sale and export,``` he said from Washington.

Pakistan`s president, Pervez Musharraf, has insisted his government was not involved.

``The Pakistani government has never and will never proliferate,`` he told a meeting of world leaders in January in Davos, Switzerland, pledging to prosecute all ``anti-state`` elements found culpable.

But his pardon of Khan led to speculation the scientist agreed to keep silent on any government involvement in exchange for avoiding punishment.

Much of what was sold were expensive and high-tech uranium enrichment centrifuge components to Libya - which has confessed to trying to build weapons of mass destruction - and Iran, which denies such ambitions and says its enrichment plans are not for warheads but nuclear power.

Such equipment would be useless to terrorists lacking the space and expertise needed to set up thousands of centrifuges in series and repeatedly recycle isotopes until they were weapons grade. The tens of millions of dollars needed to buy the equipment might also be a deterrent.

But the diplomats identified two recent discoveries - traces of highly enriched uranium apparently of Russian origin found in Iran, and drawings of a nuclear warhead surrendered by Libya - as representing a potential fast track for terrorists looking to build a weapon.

The uranium apparently was sold by individuals in the black market and not by the Russian government and carried a signature typical of enrichment in the former Soviet Union, the diplomats said. While short of the 90 percent weapons level, it was enriched enough to make it suitable for a warhead with much less equipment and effort than needed to enrich natural uranium.

``We`re talking a couple of dozen centrifuges, as compared to about 1,000,`` said one diplomat.

The engineers` drawings of a nuclear weapon, now under IAEA seal in the United States, were of Chinese origin. The texts accompanying them were in both Chinese and English, some handwritten. China is widely assumed to have supplied much of the clandestine nuclear technology that Khan used to establish Pakistan as a nuclear power in 1998.

With such high-tech drawings and about 50 pounds of highly enriched uranium, nuclear experts associated with terrorist groups could make a crude warhead, said one diplomat.

``The simplest way to go about it is to get ready-made nuclear material and weapons design, and - from what`s been found in Iran and Libya - both seem to be available on the market,`` said another.

Investigators cannot say whether other countries - or groups - have the drawings.

Al-Qaida has shown an interest in acquiring nuclear weapons.

The U.S. federal indictment of Osama bin Laden charges that as far back as 1992 the al-Qaida leader ``and others known and unknown, made efforts to obtain the components of nuclear weapons.``

Bin Laden, in a November 2001 interview with a Pakistani journalist, boasted of having hidden such components ``as a deterrent.`` And in 1998, a Russian nuclear weapons design expert was investigated for allegedly working with the Taliban allies of bin Laden.

Another question is whether the Khan network supplied states other than Iran, Libya and North Korea. Melissa Fleming, spokeswoman of the Vienna-based IAEA, said answering that was the agency`s ``No. 1 priority.``

A possible suspect is Syria, which denies nuclear weapons ambitions. U.S. officials are divided on whether Syria constitutes a nuclear threat, with Undersecretary of State John Bolton at odds with senior intelligence officials who insist there`s no clear evidence implicating the country, diplomats told AP.

Several teams of Syrian experts spent time at Ranstad Mineral, a Swedish plant that extracted uranium for enrichment between 1997 and 2002. The IAEA confirmed sponsoring some visits, as part of Syria`s small-scale peaceful nuclear program. But Bengt Lillja, owner of the plant, said the Syrians paid several visits later on their own - and still later, Sweden`s nuclear watchdog agency ordered the plant shut down because of unspecified irregularities in the extraction process.

Experts suspect more covert manufacturing operations will be discovered beyond the centrifuge parts plants identified in Malaysia.

A factory in Turkey is being scrutinized, one diplomat familiar with the investigation said, but declined to go into details beyond suggesting the plant might also be making missile components.

David Albright, a former Iraq nuclear weapons inspector who runs the Institute for Science and International Security, also pointed to Turkey, saying, ``We know some components (to Libya) came out of there.``

A diplomat said a company in Spain also was under investigation.

romair,

.......... a metallurgist is not in the same ``field of science`` as a physicist .......... didn`t they teach you that at risalpur??

..........as for your other silly question. ``Why is Qadeer Khan so popular amongst the people?``.......... osama bin laden is also very popular amongst the people, as was sultan rahi ........what does that tell you?......... some people just have bad taste..........