Targeting Pakistan nukes, A lose-lose situation for US: says Expert

ISLAMABAD, August 05, 2011 (PPI): -Targeting Pakistan on its nuclear weapons is a lose-lose situation for the US not for Pakistan said prominent defence analyst and CEO of STR Dr Shireen Mazari.

Refferring to recent reports, she said US media just cannot get over its unhealthy obsession with Pakistan’s nuclear weapons - encouraged ostensibly by the US government. The latest is a 3 August report by Robert Windrem entitled "US prepares for worst-case scenario with Pakistan nukes".

Mazari pointed out that 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, she said 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.

Shireen Mazari further said nevertheless, some terrorist 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 I 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, Mazari added.

She said 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.

Shireen Mazari suggested it is time our media stopped 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 presently in the CD in Geneva. So we should encourage the US on this count, she concluded.