Pakistan expanding its nuclear capability

[jawadqamar]

PM for retaining nuclear deterrence at all cost


ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani Saturday expressed the determination to retain the country’s nuclear deterrence at all cost and said Pakistan could not be coerced to compromise on its core security interest.

“We are determined to retain nuclear deterrence at all cost, while ensuring fail-safe security of our nuclear assets,” Gilani told the top leaders of his party at a meeting at the PM House.

Rejecting the “orchestrated campaign” by “Pakistan’s detractors” who were casting doubts about security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets, Gilani said, “No amount of coercion, direct or indirect, will ever force Pakistan to compromise on its core security interest.”

In a policy statement made to the Central Executive Committee and the Federal Council of Pakistan Peoples Party, Gilani said the campaign against Pakistan has tried to link the country’s internal situation with nuclear security to discredit Pakistan’s nuclear capability.

“Disinformation is being spread deliberately to undermine Pakistan,” the prime minister said while referring to reports in western media about the safety and security of country’s nuclear assets and apprehensions that it might fall into the hands of militants and extremists.

“No foreign individual, entity or state has been provided, or will ever be provided access to our sensitive information,” Gilani said amidst loud applause by the party members.

“Nuclear weapons are the cornerstone of Pakistan’s deterrence strategy and enjoy complete consensus and support,” he said and pointed out that the founder of Pakistan Peoples Party Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto initiated the country’s nuclear program and the party was carrying out the legacy.

“Pakistan has developed and operationalized an immaculate nuclear weapons security regime, which is multi-layered, has stringent access controls and incorporates modern technical solutions and rigorous Human Reliability Programmes.”

The Prime Minister said Pakistan conforms to international best practices and has the capacity to meet all challenges.

“Insinuations to the contrary are plain mischievous and designed to create doubts in the minds of the people of Pakistan. I dismiss these with contempt,” Prime Minister Gilani said.

 

[Cheetah786]

WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear program.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed the assessment of the expanded arsenal in a one-word answer to a question on Thursday in the midst of lengthy Senate testimony. Sitting beside Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, he was asked whether he had seen evidence of an increase in the size of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.

“Yes,” he said quickly, adding nothing, clearly cognizant of Pakistan’s sensitivity to any discussion about the country’s nuclear strategy or security. Inside the Obama administration, some officials say, Pakistan’s drive to spend heavily on new nuclear arms has been a source of growing concern, because the country is producing more nuclear material at a time when Washington is increasingly focused on trying to assure the security of an arsenal of 80 to 100 weapons so that they will never fall into the hands of Islamic insurgents.

The administration’s effort is complicated by the fact that Pakistan is producing an unknown amount of new bomb-grade uranium and, once a series of new reactors is completed, bomb-grade plutonium for a new generation of weapons. President Obama has called for passage of a treaty that would stop all nations from producing more fissile material — the hardest part of making a nuclear weapon — but so far has said nothing in public about Pakistan’s activities.

Bruce Riedel, the Brookings Institution scholar who served as the co-author of Mr. Obama’s review of Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, reflected the administration’s concern in a recent interview, saying that Pakistan “has more terrorists per square mile than anyplace else on earth, and it has a nuclear weapons program that is growing faster than anyplace else on earth.”

Obama administration officials said that they had communicated to Congress that their intent was to assure that military aid to Pakistan was directed toward counterterrorism and not diverted. But Admiral Mullen’s public confirmation that the arsenal is increasing — a view widely held in both classified and unclassified analyses — seems certain to aggravate Congress’s discomfort.

Whether that discomfort might result in a delay or reduction in aid to Pakistan is unclear.

The Congressional briefings have taken place in recent weeks as Pakistan has descended into further chaos and as Congress has considered proposals to spend $3 billion over the next five years to train and equip Pakistan’s military for counterinsurgency warfare. That aid would come on top of $7.5 billion in civilian assistance.

None of the proposed military assistance is directed at the nuclear program. So far, America’s aid to Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructure has been limited to a $100 million classified program to help Pakistan secure its weapons and materials from seizure by Al Qaeda, the Taliban or “insiders” with insurgent loyalties.

But the billions in new proposed American aid, officials acknowledge, could free other money for Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructure, at a time when Pakistani officials have expressed concern that their nuclear program is facing a budget crunch for the first time, worsened by the global economic downturn. The program employs tens of thousands of Pakistanis, including about 2,000 believed to possess “critical knowledge” about how to produce a weapon.

The dimensions of the Pakistani buildup are not fully understood. “We see them scaling up their centrifuge facilities,” said David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security, which has been monitoring Pakistan’s continued efforts to buy materials on the black market, and analyzing satellite photographs of two new plutonium reactors less than 100 miles from where Pakistani forces are currently fighting the Taliban.

“The Bush administration turned a blind eye to how this is being ramped up,” he said. “And of course, with enough pressure, all this could be preventable.”

As a matter of diplomacy, however, the buildup presents Mr. Obama with a potential conflict between two national security priorities, some aides concede. One is to win passage of a global agreement to stop the production of fissile material — the uranium or plutonium used to produce weapons. Pakistan has never agreed to any limits and is one of three countries, along with India and Israel, that never signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Yet the other imperative is a huge infusion of financial assistance into Afghanistan and Pakistan, money considered crucial to helping stabilize governments with tenuous holds on power in the face of terrorist and insurgent violence.

Senior members of Congress were already pressing for assurances from Pakistan that the American military assistance would be used to fight the insurgency, and not be siphoned off for more conventional military programs to counter Pakistan’s historic adversary, India. Official confirmation that Pakistan has accelerated expansion of its nuclear program only added to the consternation of those in Congress who were already voicing serious concern about the security of those warheads.

During a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Senator Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat, veered from the budget proposal under debate to ask Admiral Mullen about public reports “that Pakistan is, at the moment, increasing its nuclear program — that it may be actually adding on to weapons systems and warheads. Do you have any evidence of that?”

It was then that Admiral Mullen responded with his one-word confirmation. Mr. Webb said Pakistan’s decision was a matter of “enormous concern,” and he added, “Do we have any type of control factors that would be built in, in terms of where future American money would be going, as it addresses what I just asked about?”

Similar concerns about seeking guarantees that American military assistance to Pakistan would be focused on battling insurgents also were expressed by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, the committee chairman.

Unless Pakistan’s leaders commit, in deeds and words, their country’s armed forces and security personnel to eliminating the threat from militant extremists, and unless they make it clear that they are doing so, for the sake of their own future, then no amount of assistance will be effective,” Mr. Levin said.

A spokesman for the Pakistani government contacted Friday declined to comment on whether his nation was expanding its nuclear weapons program, but said the government was “maintaining the minimum, credible deterrence capability.” He warned against linking American financial assistance to Pakistan’s actions on its weapons program.

“Conditions or sanctions on this issue did not work in the past, and this will not send a positive message to the people of Pakistan,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his country’s nuclear program is classified.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/world/asia/18nuke.html?_r=1&hp

 

[IceCold]

And yet Pakistanis are accuses of being paranoid, what will we call this new breed of paranoia the west is having in particular the US. A simple solution please stop all aid, they never really reach the places it should other then in the pockets of corrupt politicians, please with held all aid and financial assistance. The sooner the better for both the parties.

 

[AirforcePilot]

I think our country should forget about giving billions of dollars of military aid to Pakistan. Pakistan will be taken over by the Taliban, Al Qaeda or other Islamic extremists. It's time for us to go into Pakistan and snatch the nuclear weapons they possess.

 

[Patriot]

I am glad we're building these weapons.We should build as many we can.We need at least 150 War heads by 2012 so that no body messes with us.

 

[Patriot]

I think our country should forget about giving billions of dollars of military aid to Pakistan. Pakistan will be taken over by the Taliban, Al Qaeda or other Islamic extremists. It's time for us to go into Pakistan and snatch the nuclear weapons they possess.

Thanks for the info, Armchair General.You can get off your crackpipe now, Bomb dropping Spielberg lovers.Your JCOS and President seems to disagree with you.

 

[Skeptic]

Pakistan will be taken over by the Taliban, Al Qaeda or other Islamic extremists. It's time for us to go into Pakistan and snatch the nuclear weapons they possess.

You sure woke up after watching another sequel of Mission Impossible. Reality check - there is no Ethan Hunt and wars are not choreographed by Abrams.

You should not be smoking at such a young age too. Better log off the internet and grab your schoolbag. Don't forget to return the Star Trek DVD to the Library on the way.

 

[Lockheed F-16]

**** YOU ALL!!!!

No, but the us army is getting ****ed in Afghanistan by Taliban. Stop talking such stuff, if you got no idea, then stop posting here. I know american IQ levels very well, many cannot even locate US on the map

 

[AirforcePilot]

This forum is anti American.....

 

[ajpirzada]

even if we are expanding our nuclear facilities then so wat. every single country has got a right of doing that. its america which should be careful bec of ur poor handling of nuclear weapons. it was ur jet which had nuclear weapon in it but no one knew untill the jet landed. wat would have happened if that jet crashed? u guys also abandoned a nuclear weapon under ice ini Greenland. i dont wanna go too much in past but u know u have used it as well. also these are western submarines which collide with each other underwater while carryin nuclear weapons.
shouldnt the world be more worried about ur nukes than ours?

 

[ajpirzada]

This forum is anti American.....

if most pakistanis dont agree with american foreign policy then wat can this forum do about that.

 

[Lockheed F-16]

This forum is anti American.....

I am nowhere anti American! In fact I like America like many other states, but if someone comes in just for the purpose to flame a bit then we should act. Your arrogant posts with 0 knowledge have shown the rest. Ah, don't forget ur bread for kindergarten today!

 

[TOPGUN]

I think our country should forget about giving billions of dollars of military aid to Pakistan. Pakistan will be taken over by the Taliban, Al Qaeda or other Islamic extremists. It's time for us to go into Pakistan and snatch the nuclear weapons they possess.

Airforcepilot please make some damn sense with your hateful comments ! you hatred clearly speaks for its self learn first about things and gain some knowledge and then speak upon a topic to many sci fiction movies for you boss anyhow thats the silliest and dumbest idea ever heard i would just like to see you do so... furthermore, or nukes are of no ones concern! The international police man's usual thinking is the same as always this one will take over this one that one will do this and if we go take over all prob's will be solved etc.. there isn't one place that you have went in solved the prob's that you your self have caused rather caused more pain and sorrow for the people there .As much iam a American & which iam proud of i dont support US 's actions in the world i mean for GOD's sake we are hated everywhere doesnt that tell you anything? anyhow and all that i have stated has got nothing to do with being who iam a muslim i am just speaking upon as also being a American GOD help us all few more like you in this world and we have got it made lol ! so no more movies for you.

 

[RescueRanger]

This forum is anti American.....

We have several American members who would disagree with the above statement. The fact that you have not been banned is proof of how liberal we all are!

But some of the statements you have made do not help your cause. If you were an ambassador for your country, you failed miserably.

 

[Beskar]

This forum is anti American.....

Sure it is. Why'd you sign up then? I'm sure it wasn't because we were selling hamburgers and 'freedom fries' here.