Author: Editorial
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 5, 2004
Wilful western blindness to Pak
N-proliferation raises doubts
As George W Bush prepares to order
a belated probe into the intelligence fiasco that led to his fictitious
pre-war claims about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMD),
there has emerged, in another part of the world, a story of intelligence
failure so extraordinary that it makes the Iraqi botch-up look almost benign
in comparison. Over the past weeks, the world has watched in horror as
details have daily emerged about Islamabad's role in the global proliferation
of N-technology The finger of blame which first pointed to A Q Khan, the
redoubtable head of Pakistan's nuclear programme, has since been directed
at the who's who of the country's political and military establishment,
including former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, the current president General
Musharraf and retired top-ranking army commanders: Put simply, Islamabad
was passing N-know-how and technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya as
early as the mid-1980s. Yet, for well over 15 years, Washington and the
West remained wholly oblivious to the threat. No media leak, no informed
speculation, not even a whisper that anything might be amiss.
On second thoughts, the silence
seems so conspicuously total that it almost rings untrue. Could it be that
this was not so much an intelligence lapse as a systematic unwillingness
on the part of Washington to face the facts? Pakistan, after all, was for
long a key western ally - first for the British and then for the Americans.
The reasons: Geographically, it afforded a strategic foothold at the edge
of the oil-rich Gulf. Ideologically, it was an important bulwark against
the evil influence of communist Russia. It took an event as momentous as
9/11 to break that old mindset. Even in the changed circumstances, however,
Islamabad's significance remained undiminished. It was simply redefined.
From being a sought-after ally, Islamabad became, almost overnight, a source
of grievous threat - a nuclear nation in danger of being overtaken by right
wing groups with links to global terror groups. Washington's public show
of support for Musharraf, including on the all-important N-proliferation
question, is best seen as a tactical choice. Fearful of destabilising Pakistan
and pushing it into the hands of extremists, Washington would rather back
the general, in the long-term hope that he'd eventually hand over control
of the Pak N-programme. With Pakistan so much in 9/11 focus, could it be
that the American war in Iraq was designed not so much to disarm a brutal
but toothless dictator as to send a stern warning to Islamabad on its wilful
N-proliferation? Maybe conspiracy theorists will ask Tom Clancy to solve
this mystery in his next thriller.