With
emergency in force in Pakistan and frequent suicide attacks
taking place in the country, the American officials are concerned
over the safety of the nuclear weapons there. During the last
six years the Bush administration spent a whopping 100 million
dollars for safety of the nuclear weapons in Pakistan. As
per a report published in the New York Times, quoting present
and former American officials, a part of the American budget
has been kept secretly to meet the safety aspects of Pakistan's
nuclear weapons. The amount was spent to train Pakistan officials
and to establish a nuclear safety centre. This work took so
much time that the American officials even failed to gauge
how profitable their move would be. Pakistan is grappling
with its leadership crisis. These days the US administration
is exerting pressure on President Musharraf to lift emergency
in Pakistan and the General on his part is giving excuses
of widespread disturbances for continuing emergency. Musharraf
has defended his decision to impose emergency saying the nuclear
weapons could fall into the wrong hands if elections led to
disturbances. Even though the Pakistan President, in an interview,
admitted that imposing emergency was an unconstitutional step.
He has said a general election will be held before January
9 and he expects to step down as Army Chief and be sworn in
as civilian President beforehand. According to Pervez, former
PM Benazir Bhutto has disturbed the entire environment. Her
approach is one of confrontation, the General says. Pervez
also accused the western media of defaming him. In the meantime,
Pakistan caretaker prime minister is exhorting the media to
help improve the conditions there. However Top Pentagon officials
said that the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons is not
under threat despite the current political crisis.
|
Print This Page
Terms
and Conditions