Pakistan's nuclear plan a threat only to Israel: General Gul

Although, at present, there is no threat to Pakistan nukes, it should not, however, be assumed that the US and the West have accepted Pakistan as a nuclear state.
These views were expressed by General Hamid Gul, a former ISI chief, while addressing a seminar on Kashmir here on Saturday. He said that "our nuke poses a threat" only to Israel. Hence it does not want to see Pakistan with nuclear arsenals. "Although Pakistan is not engaged in a physical war, it is engaged in a 'cold war' with the West on of nuclear issue and Kashmir," he added.
According to him, the present scenario advocates establishing national forum of intellectuals, which should debate and come up with solutions to the problems faced by the country, leaving their prejudices aside. Moreover, the government should resist the US interference in Pakistan's national matters, he added.
Gul averred that there were two paths to the resolution of the Kashmir issue: one, through democratic means, and the other non-democratic; and the present government has adopted the latter option under which Pakistan would be on losing side. "Thus, we should change our path and adopt democratic means to resolve the outstanding issue," he suggested.
He observed that Nato had failed to normalise the situation in Afghanistan and controlling the resurgence of Taleban. Hence, the US was seeking Pakistan's assistance to counter the Taliban. Moreover, the US also wants access to Afghanistan through Kashmir, so that it has alternative option to Afghanistan, he added.
Senator Ghafoor Ahmed of JI said that it was "the darkest period of our history" when Dr A.Q. Khan pleaded guilty and appeared on TV.
He said that President Musharraf has no constitutional authority to give clemency to Dr Khan before a trial in a court of law. "However, the matter of scientists has not ended with the apology from Dr Khan, as depicted by the President. In fact, the issue would be exploited in the international forum by our antagonistic," he warned.
Muhammad Farooq Rahman, convener of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, said that a peaceful solution should be formulated for the Kashmir issue and it should be acceptable to all parties.
Naveed Anwar of Islami Jamiat-ul-Tulba, Fareed Ahmad Piracha of JI, Haroon Rasheed, Irfan Siddiqui and Abdur Rasheed Tarabi of JI also spoke on the occasion.