February 06, 2004
Untangling the Nuclear Tangle
On a chilly, wintry morning, a distinguished assemblage of Pakistan scientists and engineers stood respectfully as the national anthem was played at a meeting in Multan. Standing on the dais was the President (later Prime Minister) of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, flanked by two eminent scientists - Dr I.H. Usmani and Professor Abdus Salam. They made a magnificent trio - handsome and suave - with each embodying the quintessence of excellence. Among the scientists stood Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan, a Pakistani nuclear engineer, who had served with distinction at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna .
Suddenly, the national anthem recording was no longer audible. The gathering looked askance but stood respectfully in silence. The abrupt stoppage of the recording marked an inauspicious beginning to the famous Multan meeting. Or was it an ominous portent of what was to come as the nuclear program gained momentum?
The meeting provided fresh proof to the Newtonian law: every action has a reaction. The imminent Indian nuclear threat forced Pakistan to chart out a new course. The threat was real and had been mounting ever since Indian Prime Minister Pandit Nehru resolved on April 6, 1948: “...if we are compelled as a nation to use it (atomic energy) for other purpose, no pious sentiments of any one of us can stop the nation from using it that way.” The other purpose option was assiduously pursued by India in fulfillment of its incessant urge to be a nuclear power. In the seventies the Indian program sounded alarm bells. Thus the change in priorities had become a pressing compulsion for Pakistan. Installation of power reactors, training of technical personnel, basic Research and Development (R&D) breakthroughs, and diffusion of higher technical skills were to enjoy a low priority as Bhutto ordered a reappraisal of the nuclear program. He, more than any other individual, deserves to be credited for launching the nuclear-weapon program.
The meeting’s proceedings seemed to resonate in the shamiana under the open blue sky. The arguments were heated. The cost, time frame, and technical details of the newly defined task, were spiritedly spelled out and contested. The mike raised the decibel level. The highlights of the proceedings were subsequently published in the PAEC newsletter PakAtom with the permission of the competent authorities.
For some participants, the meeting was to serve as an ideal occasion to settle scores with Dr Usmani, a headstrong administrator who unsparingly took sluggard scientists to task and rode roughshod over red-tape formalities (withourt violating rules) in his unflinching pursuit of installing reactors, training researchers in some of the best laboratories of the West, and developing the wherewithal for a dynamic peaceful program patterned on the model of Canada, Germany and Japan. His role and contribution were to prove of a seminal nature in the new scheme of things.
Bhutto, a generalist, seemed to outshine the galaxy of specialists. He had no prepared text to complete the formality of delivering a speech. Yet, his diction, eloquence, and thought-content deserved the best of superlatives. Avoiding rhetoric and platitudes, he questioned the validity of Rostow’s theory (Stages of Growth) in the context mentioned by Dr Usmani, silenced scientists who were critical of Prof Salam’s contribution with the cutting remark, “If the world respects Salam, why shouldn’t we respect him?” and unwittingly appeared to pay a fitting tribute to the-then PAEC Chairman, “Usmani is a go-getter. He has made his contribution, and we must acknowledge it….” Bhuto’s brilliance was infectious. His remarks were scintillating. It is a pity his feudal streak snuffed out his creative impulse and promise.
Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan was soon to replace Dr Usmani who departed from the nuclear scene somewhat unceremoniously as later events were to prove. He was not invited to the inaugural ceremony of the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP) that he had established with painstaking efforts. PINSTECH, described as ‘best of both the worlds’ by TIME, stands as a testimony to his vision and strivings..
Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan had his moments of triumph. Yet the task proved daunting and he found his path strewn with obstacles of sorts with international pressure steadily mounting to scuttle Pakistan’s nuclear program. Canada withheld the supply of fuel and denied back-up technology for the operation of KANUPP; training of Pakistani scientists abroad became an impossible proposition; and efforts to add to the nuclear generating capacity were all in vain.
The situation was compounded with the appearance of an assertive and confident Dr A. Q. Khan on the scene. The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) came to be increasingly identified with KANUPP’s shutdowns and trivial successes such as preservation of onions with radiation techniques, evolution of improved varieties of rice, and diagnosis of malignant diseases with radioisotopes! Its image was badly bruised as Kahuta came to attain primacy on the nuclear front. Genteel and soft-spoken, Munir Khan’s contribution too went largely unrecognized as he exited from the scene.
In the meantime, the architect of the nuclear weapon program was hanged in the Rawalpindi Jail and buried with due promptitude in Garhi Shahoo! Indeed, ‘an example’ was made of the man who had visualized that the security of Pakistan lay in the acquisition of nuclear capability. People of Pakistan continue to question, rightly or wrongly, the judgment sentencing Bhutto to death. As for Professor Abdus Salam, he did not figure in Bhutto’s post-Multan weapon program but went on to win the coveted Nobel Prize and made his mark in the international scientific community. He prided on his Pakistani nationality and clung to his green passport to the end. Lamentably, only a few Pakistanis turned up at the Lahore airport when his mortal remains were brought to Pakistan. He lies buried in Rabwah, unwept and unsung!
The train of events, with almost a chain reaction effect, brings us to the present times that have witnessed the Kahuta boys publicly humiliated and mauled. Helpless wives of former heroes parade the streets. There are speculations that two scientists are to be firmly dealt with. Newspaper reports are particularly disconcerting.
Says one report: “Zahid Malik, a journalist and friend of Khan’s who recently saw him, said the scientist denied any wrongdoing. ‘He told me that he is innocent and has not done anything against the interest of Pakistan,’ Malik said.” Another report presents the eminent scientist in a different light: “A senior official, familiar with the nuclear investigation, said that the initial observations from the IAEA against some Pakistani scientists was so damning that President Musharraf decided to personally confront Dr A Q Khan in the last week of November last year. ‘For the first time ever I saw tears in the President’s eyes, who thought that it was the worst ever breach of the nation’s trust,’ recalled a presidential aide, who said the president wanted to listen to Dr Khan’s side of the story, but he literally had no defense.”
Has the adventurism of the KRL scientists gone too far? Would the nation be forced to censure the very group that has played a catalytic role in the all-important project, whose success has kept the Indian army at bay? One hopes, not.
However, if censure we must our scientists for their omissions, how about the other actors on the center stage whose involvement in the sordid game of nuclear proliferation is of a more sinister nature? President Musharraf, who has manfully grappled with a multitude of problems since he took over, was right in posing the incisive question at the recent breakfast meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos: “I take exception to this issue, fingers are pointing at Pakistan. They are pointing at individuals in Pakistan, as much as they are pointing at individuals in Europe,” he said. “But I don’t know why people are talking about Pakistan only, what about the individuals in Europe, and I know that there has been found in Europe (people) involved in the fabrication of the equipment, and that needs very high technology.”
True. A spade is to be called a spade. What has the western media done about Germany and Holland who are also listed in the IAEA report vis-a-vis the Iran program?
And here a sampling of the misdoings of other countries to further prove this point. A report in The Washington Times (February 23, 2002) furnishes illuminating information. Headlined ‘Russia’s nuclear arms deemed vulnerable,’ the report testifies: “The system used to protect Russian nuclear weapons is ‘stressed’ by military funding shortfalls and is vulnerable to an ‘insider’ who could circumvent nuclear-missile launch controls, according to a US intelligence report. The report to Congress also said thieves have stolen an unknown amount of weapons-grade nuclear fuel over the past decade. …
“ ‘Russia employs physical, procedural, and technical measures to secure its weapons against an external threat,’ the unclassified report says. ‘But many of these measures date from the Soviet era and are not designed to counter the pre-eminent threat faced today …’
“Yesterday’s release of the 12-page report comes as the Bush administration has warned that terrorists are seeking to develop nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, possibly using stolen nuclear material.
“The report said that ‘we are concerned about the total amount of material that could have been diverted over the last 10 years.
“There have been published reports indicating that al Qaeda terrorists have attempted to purchase stolen Russian nuclear arms on the black market.
“ Among the incidents identified in the report are:
o Theft in 1992 of 1.5 kilograms of enriched uranium from the Luch Production Association.
o Theft of 3 kilograms of enriched uranium from Moscow.
o The 1998 theft from Chelyabinsk province of an amount of nuclear material to produce a nuclear device, according to a Russian nuclear official.
“Col. Gen. Igor Valynkin, the Defense Ministry official in charge of warhead storage, stated in August 2000 that there have been no incidents of attempted theft, seizure, or unauthorized actions involving nuclear weapons.
“Even with the enhancements, security problems may still exist at the nuclear-weapons storage sites,” the report said. One Russian military officer told a Russian television station in August that security at warhead-storage facilities was lax, including personnel shortages and broken alarm systems….”
In the face of such incontrovertible evidence, one may ask as to why Pakistan’s nuclear program is singled out time and again on decorous pretexts to apply the diplomatic crunch? And while noble protestations are voiced to chastise Pakistan for its strivings in the nuclear field, why a blind eye is turned to sinister acts elsewhere?
India, Pakistan, Israel, S. Africa, and N. Korea have all acquired components for their programs from the very large international black market. According to Dr Shirin Mazari, Director General of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, the extensive reach of the European private sector in transferring sensitive nuclear technology has led the IAEA Director General to declare that today the global blackmarket of nuclear -related material and equipment has grown to the point that it amounted to a Wal*Mart for weapon-seeking countries - “the Wal*Mart of private sector proliferation.” High payments by agents in this market have a magnetic appeal and do tempt scientists. This situation, however, provides little justification for any aberration on their part. The US authorities seem to realize this and are not much disturbed. Indeed they have complimented the Pakistan government for the action it is taking.The Pakistan media too would be well advised to act responsibly and to desist from creating panic among the country’s researchers as that might scatter the group of scientists whose continual services are required by the nation.
The need to collectively face up to a challenge was never as pressing as it is today. Our President and our government need our wholehearted support, and our national heroes - living and dead - our respect. - afaruqui@pakistanlink.com
