Opinion Radioactive reporting
A register of reports and views from the Pakistan press....
American journalist Seymour Hersh has destroyed his own chances of ever getting a visa to Pakistan. His recent New Yorker article about the US securing Pakistans nuclear arsenal has sent Pakistans journalistic circles into overdrive.
Daily Times reported on November 9: The journalist wrote that during meetings with current and former officials in Washington and Pakistan,he was told the agreements would allow specially trained American units to provide added security for the Pakistani arsenal in case of a crisis. At the same time,the Pakistani military would be given money to equip and train Pakistani soldiers and improve their housing and facilities¿ The fear was extremists inside the military might stage a coup,take control of nuclear assets or even divert a warhead,notes Hersh. The report says the arrangement serves as a safeguard in case of a quickly escalating confrontation with India,but also makes the weapons vulnerable during shipment and reassembly.
The US was quick to fire off a rebuttal,as reported in The News on November 9: US ambassador to Pakistan,Anne Patterson stated: These allegations are completely false. The US has no intention to seize Pakistani nuclear weapons… Pakistan is a key ally in our effort to fight extremists and foster regional security. We work cooperatively on a wide range of security assistance initiatives,including efforts focussed on strengthening counterinsurgency capacities to foster stability. The US has confidence in Pakistans ability to protect its nuclear programmes,as secretary of state Hillary Clinton said during her recent visit to Pakistan.
The next in line was the chairman,joint chiefs of staff committee,Gen Tariq Majid who is the man responsible for the nukes. Daily Times reported Gen Majids angry response on November 10: I reiterate in very unambiguous terms,there is
absolutely no question of sharing or allowing any foreign individual,entity or state any access to sensitive information about our nuclear assets?
He rejected Hershs 7,000-word article,branding it absurd and plain mischief.
Anger laced with defensiveness was evident in an editorial in The News on November 10: Talk of their insecurity is at variance with ground reality and perhaps made with mischief in mind and perhaps not a million miles from the insecurity in the minds of others attendant upon a Muslim nation being nuclear-armed.
Daily Times editorial compared attitudes t Indias nuclear programme: The US did help Pakistan in formulating an accidental use risk reduction plan,but that is as far as the Americans were allowed to go¿ On a separate note,the double standards of the US vis-à-vis Pakistans nuclear programme are glaring when it comes to India. A country known to have diverted its civilian nuclear programme to develop nuclear weapons,thereby sparking off a nuclear arms race in the subcontinent,was rewarded by the Americans in the shape of an Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement that leaves at least eight reactors outside the purview of IAEA inspections. India and Pakistan are both not signatories of the Non-Proliferation Treaty,but only India is still allowed to carry on nuclear commerce with the rest of the world. Pakistan,on the other hand,has taken steps to stop the nuclear proliferation network headed by Dr A Q Khan in its tracks.
Finally,Hersh has to rescue himself on Pakistani television. Dawn reported on November 11: In an interview with Dawn News TVs programme Newseye,Mr Hersh took pains to clarify he had never talked about any formal agreement in his
article as,according to him,he knew it would be immediately denounced and criticised¿ Instead he claimed an
informal understanding existed between the chairman of US joint chiefs of staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Pakistans army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani over the safety of
Pakistans nuclear arsenal.
Rejecting Hershs claims,US secretary of state,Hillary Clinton stated in an interview to German magazine Der Speigel: The nuclear arsenal that Pakistan has,I believe is secure. I think the government and the military have taken adequate steps to protect that, reported The News on November 11.
Share
