Targeting Pakistan on its nuclear weapons is a lose-lose situation for the US not for Pakistan and its media cannot get over unhealthy obsession with regards to Pakistan nukes, pointed out CEO of Strategic Technology Resources (STR), Dr Shireen Mazari on Friday.
The US media just cannot get over its unhealthy obsession with Pakistan's nuclear weapons - encouraged ostensibly by the US government. The latest is August 3 report by Robert Windrem entitled "US prepares for worst-case scenario with Pakistan nukes". The report tries desperately to establish two points: One that the US has a foolproof plan to seize control of Pakistan's nukes; and, two, that the US has somehow been giving aid and assistance to Pakistan to secure its arsenal. Unfortunately for the author, he fails on both counts because he has no hard facts to go on! Even the deliberately selective persons interviewed - known opponents of Pakistan's nukes - do not provide the author with what he was seeking.
Nevertheless, some terrorists' acts are cited totally out of context to try and establish some sort of terrorist threat to Pakistan's nuclear weapons. For instance, the Wah factory attack is cited but the ignorance of the author is exposed because the Wah ordnance factory produces conventional weapons and has absolutely no linkage to production or storage of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.
The fact of the matter is, as STR has reiterated with hard evidence in its briefings for the media, Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is not only beyond the physical reach of the US, but the location of which still a frustrating mystery for the Americans. What is truly ironic is how the Pakistani media picks up these stories and simply reproduces them without exposing the false information in them.
Even more damaging are the stories now emerging from the US and being picked up without proper examination by segments of the Pakistani media. These relate to how the US is going to pressure Pakistan into signing a Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT) through the UN this September.
This cannot happen. The facts are as follows:
1. The Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva has been debating the FMCT for some time and the issue has been held up for fifteen years, this has not been because of Pakistan but because there are other issues linked with the FMCT on which countries like China and others wish to see adequate progress. Therefore, for the UN Secretary General and the US to declare that ONE country is holding up the FMCT in the CD is factually incorrect.
2. The Pakistani position is clear-cut: we will sign a Fissile Material Treaty (FMT) which first seeks reductions in existing stockpiles of nuclear material before the cut-off. Since the CD works on consensus, even one country can hold up an agreement. Of course, in the CD the FMCT is linked to other issues going forward as well, such as nuclear disarmament, negative security assurances and the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) - something the Chinese have been demanding.
3. The US has certainly been contemplating bringing solely an FMCT - delinked from other interlinked issues of the CD - to the UN General Assembly. If it does so, there will be a debate and finally voting to get a text passed.
4. Even if such a text is passed, countries have a choice of whether to sign it as a Treaty or not, when it is opened for signatures. The Non Proliferation Treaty followed the Irish Resolution in the UN General Assembly and Pakistan like India used her right to remain outside the Treaty.
5. In fact, an FMCT following a UNGA resolution should be welcomed by Pakistan because it would take the pressure off us in terms of consensus seeking that is bringing us under pressure in the CD in Geneva. Officially Pakistan has already stated that if the FMCT issue is taken out of the CD, Pakistan will stay away.
6. Once an FMCT resolution goes through in the UNGA - where consensus is not required - it can take potential Treaty form and be opened for signatures. All Pakistan has to do is to refrain from signing - since this is critical for our future.
7. If the issue is dealt with by the US in this manner, it actually takes off pressure from Pakistan in the CD so let the US shift the FMCT issue from the CD to the UNGA.
8. Incidentally, UNGA resolutions are not binding either - unlike UNSC resolutions under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
So it is time our media stop erroneously spreading this fear that Pakistan is about to be cornered in the UN by the US on the FMCT. In fact the reverse is true: taking the FMCT out of the CD and to the UNGA actually removes the tremendous pressure Pakistan is under at present in the CD in Geneva. So we should encourage the US on this count.-PR
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