Released by Muhammed Siddique-ul-Farooque, Central Information Secretary Pakistan Muslim League At a Press Conference on May 27, 2003

As the nation celebrates the fifth anniversary of Pakistan's emergence as the world's seventh nuclear power, it is proper to review the political developments that led to the decision by Prime Minister Muhammed Nawaz Sharif to explode nuclear devices on May 28, 1998 despite tremendous foreign pressures. That decision resulted in creation of balance of power for the first time in South Asia.

Pakistan's strategic interests in the current regional and world scenario call for a determined resolve to continue with our nuclear program and reject pressures to abandon our nuclear weapons in order to maintain that balance of power and to protect Pakistan's geographical frontiers. One very valid historical reason is that thrice in the past 55 years Pakistan has been the victim of aggression by a six times larger neighbor both in population and in military strength. It has been proved that India, armed with only conventional weapons, motivated once again by evil intentions, can launch aggression against Pakistan for the fourth time and inflict heavy losses. But India has now grown into a nuclear power.

On February 12, 1996, Quaid of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the then Leader of Opposition, Muhammed Nawaz Sharif addressed a conference on Prospects and Initiatives: Non-Proliferation and the Millennium sponsored by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. Referring to the historical background, he asked the countries, who had been pressing Pakistan to roll back its nuclear program, to place themselves in Pakistan's position and decide whether they could preserve their independence and sovereignty; certainly not. They should also keep it in view that Pakistan has no aggressive designs. It is a responsible country. It has not transferred nuclear capability to any other country, nor does it intends to do so. It is only concerned with self-defense, for which nuclear deterrent is a must.

It must be noted that while Pakistan never occupied even an inch of Indian territory, India continues to occupy Siachen Glacier. Nawaz Sharif said: "In such a one sided setting, how is Pakistan expected to defend its vital security interests? Nuclear capability is obviously a cheaper and more effective deterrent."

Weightless Argument
The argument that once the Kashmir issue is amicably resolved Pakistan would not need the nuclear deterrent has no weight, because, for one thing, friendship and hostility are never permanent aspects of international relations. Secondly, the bitterness between Pakistan and India is rooted in the very psyche of the two countries. In India, the elements, which have never reconciled with the existence of Pakistan, continue to exert considerable influence on New Delhi's policies towards Pakistan. It would be naïve to believe that the powerful political groups, who have written reunification of Indian sub-continent as a domain of Hinduism in their programs, and who do not tolerate the existence of Muslims even in their own country, would abandon their hostility towards Pakistan. It is, therefore, necessary to continue with the development and strengthening of our nuclear weapons program at all costs.

Unfortunately, the dictatorial regime, which lacks political foresight and even a strategic vision, is guided by the misconception of General Pervez Musharraf that the United States would act as a shield against India's aggressive designs. It is again a historical fact that the US policies are solely guided by its national interests and can be changed overnight. No one can predict what attitude would the next US president adopt towards Pakistan. It would, therefore, be foolish to yield to the current American pressures with regard to Pakistan's nuclear program or the Kashmir issue.

Arrival of Nawaz Sharif
The American pressures were already on when Nawaz Sharif was elected Prime Minister for the first time in November 1990. Pakistan's conventional defense capability, structured largely on American equipment, had been severely impaired by the application of Pressler Amendment in October 1990, which also blocked even the delivery of equipment and spares paid for by Pakistan from its own resources. Moreover, the new Prime Minister was shocked to know that the previous government had agreed in 1989 to cap its program of high level uranium enrichment, while India had refused to freeze its nuclear program and continued the production of weapons grade plutonium with impunity. India was also vigorously pursuing its program of building up a strong delivery capacity by developing medium and intermediate range missiles.

Duo-front Policy
This situation was not acceptable, because it meant continuing widening of the gap between military strengths of the two countries. Pakistan could not accept unilateral or discriminatory restrictions on its nuclear capability. Nawaz Sharif government, therefore, had no choice but to resume nuclear and missile programs with whatever meager economic resources it could manage at that time. However, diplomatic efforts to check the unnecessary arms race were not abandoned. In fact, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif renewed Pakistan's efforts on this front. In June 1991, he proposed a five nation consultative mechanism to evolve an effective agreement to keep the South Asian region free of nuclear weapons and permit mutual and balanced reduction of forces between India and Pakistan. All the three nuclear powers, included in the five-power proposal (namely USA, the Soviet Union and China) supported this proposal but India rejected it.

Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif intensified his efforts to engage Indian leaders in a constructive dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue, which was at the core of hostility between the two neighbors. He personally held seven meetings in 30 months with two Indian Prime Ministers and impressed upon them the need to resolve the Kashmir dispute peacefully, which could ultimately lead to an agreement on nuclear-free South Asia.

Road to Chaghi
The strategic environment of the sub-continent had become even more insecure when Nawaz Sharif was again elected Prime Minister in February 1997. World media reports indicated that India had already a stockpile of 60 to 200 nuclear bombs. Meanwhile, fanatical fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the leading member of a coalition government in New Delhi following the February-March 1998 elections. The policy document released by the coalition partners on March 18 underlined the pledge to "to induct nuclear weapons in the country's arsenal". BJP spokesman Brijesh Mishra said, "The BJP believes India should be a nuclear weapon power and whatever is necessary will be done for that."

Nawaz Sharif tried to stem this new wave of Indian hostility with a letter to Prime Minister Vajpayee on March 20 inviting him "to work closely with us to usher in a new era of durable peace and stability in South Asia." But India was encouraged in its designs by US State Department's remark on March 19 that "it saw no new threat in a vow by India to exercise the option to induct nuclear weapons."

Nawaz Sharif had no choice but to prepare for adequate response in case New Delhi went on with the intention to demonstrate its nuclear power, and he forewarned world leaders in letters addressed to them on April 2, 1998 with words: "Pakistan will be obliged to take cognizance of these alarming developments, and it cannot but exercise its sovereign right to adopt appropriate measures to safeguard its security".

Threats and Lures
As was expected, India detonated three nuclear bombs on May 11 at Pokhran. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was in Almaty that day attending the Fifth ECO Summit. Landing at Chaklala Airport next day, he assured the nation: "We will act accordingly what is required for the sovereignty and independence of the country."

The Western powers, who had refused to listen to Pakistan's warnings and impose sanctions on India, now lined up to restrain Pakistan. It is now a matter of record that US President Bill Clinton rang up Nawaz Sharif five times during the three weeks preceding Pakistan's nuclear explosions urging him not to conduct the tests. He offered all kinds of assistance to meet Pakistan's security concerns. US Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbot arrived in Islamabad on May 15 at the head of a high-powered delegation with alluring offers including the repeal of Pressler Amendment, the delivery of F-16s and a new financial package, in exchange of Pakistan not to go nuclear. Having failed in evoking a favorable response from Nawaz Sharif, Talbot is reported to have threatened him with "dire consequences". On the morning after Talbot's visit, Nawaz Sharif told Washington Post correspondent that the US officials tried to dissuade him from following India's but "How far can any nation depend on the assurances of others?" he asked.

That was not all. Nawaz Sharif was also offered a huge personal bribe. Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the architect of Pakistan's nuclear program, revealed in Karachi on April 3, 2003 that President Clinton had offered to deposit 100 million dollars in the personal accounts of Nawaz Sharif and his brother if Pakistan desisted from testing its nuclear weapons!

It was in that environment of dire threats and tempting enticements that the democratic leader of the nation decided to go ahead and restore the balance of power in South Asia with matching India's nuclear threat. He implemented this decision with determination. Pakistan's nuclear capability, therefore, continues with the blessings of Allah to deter Indian aggression.

Musharraf's surrender
As Pakistan now celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Chaghi event Nawaz Sharif's courageous policy stands in sharp contrast to the cowardly stance that General Pervez Musharraf has adopted in response to American pressures.

General Musharraf had claimed that Kashmir cause and the protection of Pakistan's nuclear assets were among the reasons for helping the United States attack on Afghanistan. He had claimed that the US had given full assurance in thus respect. Instead of keeping historical facts in view, and learn lessons from them, he just set aside history. All his assurances are proving mere mirage today.

Despite making Pakistan the frontline state in US war against terrorism, General Musharraf has gained no support on these issues. On the contrary, American media launched a campaign for "the need to target nuclear assets of Pakistan." It was backed by US intelligence leaks alleging nuclear collusion between Pakistan and North Korea, even linking Pakistan's nuclear scientists with Iraq. Was this the protection that he sought in return of unstinted support?

General Pervez is in the habit of hiding truth from the people. For instance, the facts behind his statement on September 19, 2001 about providing only logistic support and intelligence, kept secret by him, have been revealed recently by a report of the US Central Command, published by the press on May 18, 2003. The report says that:

· Pakistan provided five air bases. However in emergency planes could land anywhere in Pakistan.
· On the average 400,000 liters of fuel per day was provided to US.
· A total of 57,800 sorties were generated from Pakistan's air space/soil.
· In order to facilitate launching of air operations into Afghanistan, Pakistan provided 2/3rd of its air space as air corridor to the US/Coalition Forces. By so doing, Pakistan had to reschedule or redirect many of its commercial flights.
· Pakistan Navy provided landing facility to the US/Coalition ships at Pasni.
· At sea, Pakistan Navy operations/training were curtailed in order to accommodate and facilitate the operations of US/Coalition Naval Forces.
· The Coalition Naval Operations at Pasni were the largest amphibious operations in size, duration and depth that the Marine Corps had conducted since the Korean War.
· In all, 8,000 Marines, 330 vehicles and over 1350 tons of equipment/logistic were off loaded at the beach and later flown to Kandahar from Pasni.

General Musharraf never bothered to let the people of Pakistan know these facts. His government also falsely claimed that the American operations cost Pakistan only about 2-3 billion dollars. The US Central Command has exposed that lie with the report that Pakistan has suffered a loss of 10 billion dollars. In return, the United States has written off a meager one billion dollar loan. And General Musharraf continues to proudly claim improvement of the economy that has suffered a loss of 10 billion dollars! He says that the economy is now in take off position. Let the people decide how much truth is there in his claims, how much he tells and how much he hides!

As for the current status of Pakistan's nuclear program, General Musharraf told Ted Koppel of ABC Television in New York on November 10, 2001: "Pakistan's nuclear weapons are not ready to be fired, they are not mated, they are geographically apart and they are not in a condition in which a button has to be pressed to fire them." In sharp contrast to the 'revelation' of the General about the country's nuclear weapons, Indian nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Kalam and his successor Dr. Chadambram in their statements on November 12 and 15 respectively said: "Indian nuclear assets are safe and well in position and well in place. If weapons are made they are not meant for storing."

If that was the condition of our nuclear weapons according to General Musharraf 18 months back, what more "progress" might have been achieved by now? Meanwhile, everybody knows how Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, national hero and architect of Pakistan's nuclear program, has been treated.

Musharraf's spokesman Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has now offered that "Pakistan is prepared to disarm up to certain extent if its security and defense is guaranteed."

The foreign office, working according to Musharraf's directives, is issuing vague statements about the nation's nuclear capability, while the elected leadership of India has bluntly turned American demand to dismember its nuclear weapons. New delhi has declared that" even if the Kashmir issue is resolved India will not give up it nuclear weapons, because India takes its decisions as a free, independent and democratic country, and does not any dictation."

The reason why pressures are mounting on Pakistan lays in the fact that Pakistan has been isolated in the world due to the presence of a usurper military regime. India's argument that war with Pakistan takes place whenever generals are in power in Islamabad is gaining ground. The world is also aware of how General Musharraf sabotaged the cordial atmosphere generated by Lahore Declaration with his Kargil Operation that strengthened India's position on the international level.

All democratic societies and governments, including the United States, respect democratic nations and cooperate with them. The West, including the United States, is opposed to military regimes, though it uses them to promote its own interests. The attitude of the European Union, the Commonwealth and other institutions towards General Musharraf's military regime is well known. Meanwhile, keeping in mind the misdeeds of General Musharraf during the past three-and-a-half years, and his ambition to perpetuate his rule, he can be expected to go to go to any length.

With all these facts in view, one cannot but infer that Pakistan's nuclear assets are totally unsafe in the hands of General Pervez Musharraf and his puppet Jamali government. They are security risks for the nation. Now if we want to secure Pakistan's nuclear assets, resolve the Kashmir issue honorably, take the country out of isolation and regain its prestige in the comity of nations, and ensure the independence and sovereignty of coming generations, then we must get rid of General Musharraf and his puppet government, and set up a constitutional elected government.