Pakistan expanding nuclear program: Reports
Updated
US satellite photos released this week, show Pakistan has expanded two sites crucial to its nuclear program, to bolster its atomic arsenal.
The US arms control institute report said the images reveal a major expansion of a chemical plant complex near Dera Ghazi Khan. Photos of a second site near the garrison town of Rawalpindi suggested that Pakistan had added a second plutonium separation plant adjacent to the old one. So how much of a security threat do these new developments pose, not just to neighbouring India, but also to Pakistan itself?
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speaker: Dr Shabir Cheema, East West Center in Hawaii
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DR SHABIR CHEEMA: Well, these are not new developments. Pakistan's effort to a nuclear program as part of this security doctrine is about 30, 40 years old and certainly expansion of these facilities have been going on for many years. So I don't know why it has suddenly become a story but it's part of the nuclear - the security option that the country has.
SEN LAM: Well, I guess it's become a story because the extensions weren't there before and the satellite photographs show that the extensions are something new and given that the fact that the US has committed millions of dollars in extra aid and funding to Pakistan I guess there are people in the West who are a little bit concerned that the funds aren't being put to proper use.
DR SHABIR CHEEMA: Well, two points. One is that exactly the same story, same side of stories have been coming for the last three years. It's not that in the last 48 hours the Government of Pakistan has expanded these facilities. These have been known to everybody who should know, that's one. Second is that Pakistan as an independent nation has the right to take steps which are needed to protect itself. I don't think we should link the economic assistance that the Western countries are giving to Pakistan with the security concerns that Pakistan has. The United States has measured economic problems today but that doesn't mean that the United States is going to give up on the security concerns. So we have to take a bigger picture rather than, every time there's a crisis, maligning Pakistani military establishment and demonising Pakistan and I think that's why I feel there's no legs in the story.
SEN LAM: Do you think that's how Pakistanis feel, as well, that the Western media seems to be demonising them all the time?
DR SHABIR CHEEMA: Oh, absolutely. I think the sad part about that is that for the first time in Pakistan's history all the political parties are united behind the military to fight the Taliban because they feel the Taliban are the real problem and that this is not anybody else's war, it's Pakistan's war. Despite all that, what's happening in the Western countries, including in the Western media, continued demonisation of the Pakistani institution, the military, the intelligence, even ridiculing the Pakistani political institution. So if you're a Pakistani you sit back and think what's going on? We are the victim and the West is blaming the victim.
SEN LAM: Well, but, from where you sit, do you think the Pakistani Government and indeed the military, the Pakistani military is stepping up to the plate, if you like, stepping up efforts to fighting the Taliban, that, you know, efforts that weren't there before even as recently as a year ago?
DR SHABIR CHEEMA: Absolutely. I think they are stepping up to the plate and they're doing it because there's a consensus within the country. For any military it's very difficult to fight its own people and the rush of the West to force the Pakistani military - what I'm saying is obviously the Pakistani military and the Pakistani, the Government, cannot be absolved of the blame in terms of what has happened but as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mentioned last week that the United States wronged Pakistan for the last 30 years through inconsistent policy. So there's a lot of blame to go around but what's important right now is that there's a unity among the political institutions to fight Taliban which in my view is good news.
