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| India-Pakistan |
| More on Pak nuke program |
| 2004-02-01 |
| General Aslam Beg is probably at the center of the proliferation, he was the Chief of the Army after Zia died. He has gained a reputation as the sane alternative to Hamid Gul, but ultimately he has a similar world view. Jang While the investigation on financial charges against Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and a few other colleagues continue in full swing, there is an overwhelming view even in the senior brass of the Army that no probe can get to the bottom of the matter unless it finds out the reasons as to why the military guardians and overseers of the nuclear programme failed in their administrative, security and intelligence responsibilities regarding the KRL. "We must concede that there is a growing perception both within the country and abroad that the Army is essentially trying to cover up its failures on the KRL," said a federal cabinet minister during a private conversation with this correspondent in Islamabad on Friday. Several serving and retired officials, former retired Pakistani nuclear scientists and serving KRL scientists interviewed in Islamabad in the last few days almost unanimously agreed that being the principal overseer of the country’s nuclear programme, the General Headquarters (GHQ) would also examine its shortcomings and failures in protecting the nation’s nuclear programme from falling into irresponsible hands, particularly during the 1990s. "Briefing on nuclear programme is provided only on the need-to-know basis; I don’t think there is any need for that at this moment," replied Gen Mirza Aslam Beg, the then chief of Pakistan Army, when former prime minister Benazir Bhutto asked him about the status of the country’s nuclear programme, during a military briefing arranged for her at the Joint Staff Headquarters, a few months after her take-over as the prime minister for the first term in 1989," according to a retired Pakistani military official who was present on the occasion. Pakistani officials related with the country’s nuclear programme and several retired military officials confirmed that during her two terms in power Benazir was never invited, despite her repeated requests, to visit the Khan Research Laboratory (KRL). During his first term as the prime minister, Nawaz Sharif was also denied a request to visit the KRL by Gen Mirza Aslam Beg and also by his successor Gen Asif Nawaz, according to a retired corps commander. "Gen Beg kept the programme under such a thick cover that he didn’t even allow the two successive prime ministers to look inside," said another retired lieutenant general, who had also commanded a corps of Pakistan Army in the 1990s. "What do you do when the army chief thinks that the prime minister of the country is a security risk." Several official sources have said that the military was also in full picture about secret financial assistance to the programme from a few Islamic countries. Two retired military officials separately confirmed an early Libyan monetary assistance to Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Though no accounts are available with any government of Pakistan department, Pakistani nuclear scientist community and other informed officials estimate that some $10 billion had been spent on the secret programme till 1998 when Pakistan conducted its nuclear tests. A serving KRL official said the Army as "the guardian of programme" had multi-tier involvement in the KRL affairs. "While Army chiefs gave strategic guidance and regular appreciation to scientists, Army Chief of General Staff was there to iron out significant administrative and financial issues and the DG CD coordinated research and development," the KRL scientist said. "Two separate brigadiers had hundreds of troops and agents at their disposal to run an impregnable multi-tier security network at the KRL," he adds. "The ISI had a separate detachment for the KRL." Suspecting a possible collusion of certain military officials in the systematic pilferage of technology and knowledge from the KRL, intelligentsia and many civil and military officials are questioning the government’s half-hearted effort to find the whole truth. "How can you blame a person who enjoyed an explicit authority from the state to beg, borrow or steal for no less that 20 years to deliver his nation its nuclear bomb," asked a senior serving military official during a recent private conversation. "Which country in the world didn’t become the nuclear state without any help from the nuclear black market?" |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #2 "Which country in the world didn’t become the nuclear state without any help from the nuclear black market" uh...that would be us. |
| Posted by: B 2004-2-1 7:05:54 PM |
| #1 Actually, I just remembered, that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif claimed that General Beg and the then chief of the ISI approached him with a blueprint for selling Afghan Heroin to pay for covert operations. Sharif claimed that he turned down the request, but the fact that Aslam Beg is apparently a billionare, it seems that Abdul Qadeer isn't the only one pocketing billions from dubious dealings. |
| Posted by: Paul Moloney 2004-2-1 12:15:32 AM |