Pakistan's Nuclear Reassurances

"The assurances Pakistan has given the world about the safety of its nuclear program will be severely tested with short-range and sea-based systems, but they are coming."
"A cardinal principle of Pakistan's nuclear program has been: 'Don't worry, we separate warheads from launchers.' Well, that is very hard to do at sea."
Michael Krepon, co-founder, Stimson Center, global security think-tank, Washington

"We are on our way, and my own hunch is within a year or so, we should be developing our second-strike capability."
Shireen Mazari, nuclear expert, former director, Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad think-tank

"We continue to urge all nuclear-capable states to exercise restraint regarding nuclear and missile capabilities. We continue to encourage efforts to promote confidence-building and stability and discourage actions that might destabilize the region."
Jen Psaki, spokesperson, U.S. State Department

Taliban fighters appear to be looking at an unexploded bomb from a downed Pakistani F-16 jet. The Taliban claimed they shot down the jet with a surface-to-air missile on Friday. Photo/TheBlaze

That reassurance and about fifty cents could get you a package of bubble gum. As reassurances go, Pakistan's have never withstood much scrutiny. Its covert drive to possess nuclear weapons because its hated neighbour India used all the means at its disposal to become a nuclear power, drove Pakistan to succeed in that endeavour, and go a little further when its chief nuclear scientist took the trouble to share nuclear formulae with other Islamic countries in the belief that anything widely shared in the West should be shared in the Southeast as well.

North Korea, Iran, Libya for starters all gained hugely by this largesse on the part of Pakistan. And the world has since become a much less safe place. Even without the threat of nuclear proliferation, thanks to the surging Islamist tide of jihadi terrorists the world sits now on a powder keg. And Pakistan has endowed the world with more than its share of the jihadis who threaten peace and stability not only in Afghanistan but within Europe where so many have settled, seeking haven and turning against those countries that responded.

Pakistan gave firmly 'reliable' assurances to the United States and NATO allies that it was with them in the 'war on terror', while its intelligence services and its military were rife with Islamists well integrated and supportive of non-state Islamist militias, including the Afghan Taliban. The Taliban were given cross-border shelter in Pakistan while the government swore fealty to its allies fighting terrorism. At Abbottabad, the bin Ladens found refuge in their compound hard by a military officer training academy.

Pakistan, officially now battling its own Taliban and hill tribes' insurgencies, is in perpetual danger of losing control of its various nuclear facilities existing close to areas where those tribal Islamists rule and occasionally run amok. And in this volatile region of the world, where millions of Pakistanis live in endemic poverty, where the government hasn't the material or institutional wherewithal to offer humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of poor Pakistanis flooded out of their homes and their farms, there is ample funding for expanding the nuclear military presence.



Pakistan looks forward to achieving a sea-based missile capacity, and expanding its tactical nuclear warheads. It has become a high priority to develop nuclear missiles to be fired from a navy ship or submarine, to give Pakistan "second-strike" capability should a catastrophic nuclear 'exchange' destroy land-based weapons. And who, other than neighbour India against whom Pakistan continues to agitate and plot offences, might be the cause of such an exchange?

India, which hasn't been known to support terrorist groups to advance into Pakistan's cities to launch terrorist attacks killing hundreds of innocent civilians as was done with Pakistani military assistance in 2008 with the carnage that took place in Mumbai. Pakistan refuses to surrender the mastermind of the Mumbai attack, claiming that as a Pakistani nothing has been definitely proven, and he is free to do whatever he wishes.

This country that is overwhelmed by the presence of fanatical Islamists is set to launch itself into updating of its nuclear capabilities. Anti-government protests in the capital have taken the current government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif toward total collapse. And Pakistan and India have been shooting artillery shells across their border, enlarging the risk of yet another war. But short-range missiles carrying a small warhead, easy to transport, remain an urgent goal.

Prime Minister Sharif cited "evolving security dynamics in South Asia", as reason for Pakistan to develop "a full spectrum deterrence capability to deter all forms of aggression", when aggression and violence emanates from Pakistan itself, not from any outside source. Next in line appears to be the development of nuclear warheads for deployment from the Indian Ocean, from warships or from one of the country's five diesel-powered navy submarines.

Pakistan Navy is the first force in Indian Ocean Region to have submarines equipped with air-independent propulsion. PHOTO: SXC.HU

The country's Naval Strategic Force command overseeing nuclear weapons, is prepared to launch serious nuclear strides toward fulfillment of this latest of Pakistan's brilliant moves to make its region more stable, safer and dedicated to peace.