India cannot take lightly reports originating from the United States about Pakistan building up a stockpile of nuclear weapons, well beyond degree of deterrence, in the words of the Army chief, General Deepak Kapoor. According to top American scientist Hans M. Kristensen, Pakistan’s atomic weapons stockpile has jumped to about 90 from the previous estimate of 60. What is even more worrying is that Pakistan’s nuclear-capable Shaheen-II medium range ballistic missile appears to be approaching operational deployment. Not content with that, Islamabad is developing two more types of nuclear capable cruise missiles-ground launched Barbur and air launched Ra-ad.
According to the American scientist, there are indications that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons designers have been successful in building smaller and lighter plutonium warheads, which could be of use in tactical warfare and pin-pointed bombing.
The threat to peace and to India posed by Pakistan’s mad acquisition of nuclear weapons is aggravated by reports suggesting that it has illegally modified American supplied anti-ship Harpoon missiles to make them attack land-based targets. Obviously, the modification has been done keeping Indian targets in mind.
While every country has the right to equip itself for self-defence, Pakistan’s weapons acquisition and development goes well beyond that. Chiefs of India’s armed forces took note of this last week and said that they are prepared to meet the threat. General Kapoor said that there is a difference between having a degree of deterrence required for one’s own protection and going beyond that. He said that if Pakistan has 90 nuclear warheads, as stated by the American scientist, then Pakistan is going well beyond the requirement of deterrence. The outgoing naval chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta also said that the military supplies had nothing to do with Pakistan’s self defence.
Pakistan’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, disproportionate to its genuine requirements, coincides with stepped up efforts to push terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir. Infiltration and attempted infiltration have gone up of late. The Pakistani security forces have been providing covering fire to facilitate the infiltration, as per reports.
The development has come at a time when Pakistan has stubbornly refused to take any action against the mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed. India has provided half a dozen dossiers to Pakistan on the involvement of Hafiz Saeed and others in the Mumbai strikes, but Pakistan goes on asking for more evidence. It is becoming a bit of a joke – the way Pakistan has been dismissing the information and evidence provided by India as inadequate.
The world needs to wake up and put a stop to Pakistan’s acquisition of more and more nuclear weapons, well beyond the requirements of its self defence. The weapons can easily fall into the hands of the Taliban and other lawless elements, which appear to be ruling the roost in large parts of Pakistan. The track record of even the top officers of the country’s armed forces has nothing to reassure the world that the weapons would not be misused. General Pervez Musharraf had carried out the Kargil incursions into Kashmir, keeping the then civilian government headed by Nawaz Sharif in the dark. The possibility of Pakistan’ nuclear weapons falling into wrong hands cannot be ruled out.
India’s people and government have to be vigilant. The country needs to take concrete and effective steps to tackle the situation – politically, diplomatically and militarily. The snags holding up modernization of the armed forces need to be removed quickly. At the diplomatic level, India needs to make other countries aware of the danger to world peace, which will arise if Pakistan is allowed to proceed unhindered with its nuclear weapons acquisition spree.
