All worries about Pakistan
PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER
A leading Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has said that .Pakistan’s nukes are at risk of being seized by extremists. He was talking to CNN in the second week of this December inWashington. He said, “My guess isPakistanhas well over 100 nuclear weapons. And that the Pakistani military is so penetrated by extremist elements you have no idea if one morning they’re going to lose three or four of them.” He referred to the Abotabad episode in support of his apprehension regarding the presence of extremist element inPakistanmilitary. He said, “Pakistani officials claim they did not know Osama bin Laden had been hiding there for years before elite US forces found and killed him in May.” Gingrich’s anxiety over the safety of Pakistani nukes is nothing new; it is the continuity of the same bed-time story which all American children have been listening to for the last many years. It is not in fact the anxiety over the insecurity of Pakistani nukes; it is the desire of getting hold on them. To be very honest and straightforward, the nuclear program is the most precious asset for the people ofPakistan. It is just like a dream based on hope and life. We, the Pakistanis know very well how to take care of our dreams. TheUSauthorities are very well aware of the reality that in the presence of the nuclear assets, it is almost next to impossible to cause any damage to the federation ofPakistan. Apparently they have no excuse for getting control of these assets but one; the danger of going these assets into the hands of terrorists. So the whole of theUSteam is busy in preparing a stage where it could perform a play, ‘Pakistan’s nukes at stake’. Somewhere in 2009, a statement of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen was reported by the New York Times. He had told the members of the congress in a confidential briefing that despite being racked by an insurgency,Pakistanis rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal. Now it is the beginning of 2012; even after three years the story of blames and allegations is the same. In 2009 it was Mike Mullen and now it is Newt Gingrich. Our American friends are simply wasting their times in worrying about the insecurity of our nukes. Their worry, anxiety and concern regarding nuclear arsenals ofPakistanwould do nothing but add to their own problems. The situation could have been much better if they had shown just twenty percent of this anxiety and concern in the matter of the Indian nuclear program; that is the actual direction they must divert their attention to.Read More »All worries about Pakistan