PAKISTAN is presently confronted with a challenge of nuclear blackmail. Lobbyists seem to have been hired in important world capitals by anti-Pakistan governments to run down its nuclear option as insecure and in the present scenario likely to fall in the hands of the Taliban.
If for some reason the lobbyists relent in their propaganda campaign, dubious remarks about the security of our nuclear arsenal by US generals brings the issue back to the centre stage. With reports coming to light that the Conference on Disarmament has decided to revive the stalled arms control talks, the campaign has taken on an added mission: to propagate that Pakistan has stepped up its nuclear programme to enlarge its nuclear arsenal. Not surprisingly, India's army chief General Deepak Kapoor believes that the 'expanded' nuclear programme of Pakistan is a 'matter of concern for the entire world that only global pressure could halt'.
Pakistan's nuclear programme is India-centric. In 1974 when India conducted its first nuclear explosion - ironically it was code-named 'Buddha is smiling' - Pakistan offered her a nuclear weapons-free South Asia. India rejected the offer forcing Pakistan to join the nuclear race. From the very beginning India had no intention to abdicate its nuclear option and, therefore, agreed to a number of Pakistani proposals to fix parameters to avert accidental use of nuclear weapons.
But having secured the United States' acquiescence in keeping her nuclear option even as a non-signatory of the NPT, the Indian administration is now hell-bent to break out of that South Asian equation. India would like, ideally, Pakistan to be dispossessed of its nuclear option. If that is not happening it would like the Pakistani nuclear programme to be frozen to death. Tongue-in-cheek, General Kapoor says, "Even if Pakistan is looking at deterrence, they (Pakistan) require a minimum amount".
As the anti-Pakistan campaign unfolds during the run-up to the Conference on Disarmament at Geneva, Islamabad has to come on the front foot to fight back. It would like to redefine its position on some of the understandings with India, like 'no-first-use' and unilateral moratorium on testing. Having acquired a clear-cut preponderance in conventional warfare equipment, India has forfeited its right to expect Pakistan to abide by the no-first-use offer.
Rightly then, Prime Minister Gilani has asserted that nuclear weapons are the "cornerstone of Pakistan's deterrence strategy" and despite the "orchestrated campaign" his government is "determined to retain the nuclear deterrence at all costs and not to compromise on this core security interest". And if anybody thinks Pakistan is or will succumb under pressure, the press statement issued by the Strategic Plans Division on the occasion of prime minister's visit urges correction: the prime minister was briefed on "qualitative upgrades", it said.
We expect the forthcoming Conference on Disarmament meeting to go much beyond its heretofore activity of fixing benchmarks and parameters for nuclear powers to follow. Instead, we believe it should take the quantum leap and outlaw all weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in one go. Full nuclear disarmament is only one part of it, and the only item on the agenda of CoD's first meeting in the Twenty-first Century. The dilly dallying and tinkering has been going on for far too long, always adding legitimacy to nuclear powers' so-called right to retain nuclear arsenal.
No doubt some important treaties and protocols in the name of arms reduction and secure testing sites did materialise from this forum, but the fact remains that the threat of a nuclear holocaust still hangs low over the head. Then there is also this nuclear apartheid that has no moral high ground to stand on. It is unacceptable to any thinking man that there should be some who should have the 'divine right' to equip themselves with unlimited destructive power. A nuclear-free world would be definitely a safer place to live than the one we inhabit today.
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