Mr. President, Please Neutralize Pakistan's Nuclear Threat

May 25, 2002

Dear Mr. President:


Our war against terrorism around the world is stepping into its 10th month in response to the dastardly attack by Al Qaeda on the American homeland on September 11, 2001. It is perhaps time to evaluate our effort to-date and very importantly, clearly identify who our friends and enemies really are.

Sir, in October of 2001, the self-anointed President of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, promised his countrys complete and unconditional help in our global war against the agents of terror. This apparent change in attitude was not surprising, since the message Musharraf got from the Secretary of State was that if he did not cooperate, American marines would be landing in Karachi and Islamabad. We should not forget that Pakistans Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) had created and nurtured the erstwhile regime of Afghanistan, the notorious Taliban (who were and are the benefactors of Al Qaeda). At the time of his miraculous transformation, Musharraf apparently stage-managed many an anti-US rally in the initial months of the war, thus lending support to the argument that he was a brave visionary determined to change a culture of violence into a civilized one, in spite of severe domestic opposition.

Mr. President, recent reports have revealed that the Islamabad regimes apparent enthusiasm (it has been a matter of debate if it was indeed ever genuine) in supporting our just cause in the war against terror is fast waning. We are beginning to see a new level of resistance setting in. It is also very reasonable to inquire whether our ally has repeatedly helped misdirect our fire to protect the guilty. A Wall Street Journal report in the early weeks of the war indicated that Pakistans army airlifted a large number of Pakistani troops, including senior officers, from Kunduz in Afghanistan just as allied forces were marching in on that city. Terrorism continues unabated in Pakistan, in spite of seemingly brave measures announced daily on television and in newspapers. Islamic hardliners and terrorists are roaming the country freely again, after a surreptitious release coming on the heels of a much-publicized roundup. Journalists such as the Wall Street Journals late Daniel Pearl, who try to investigate the activities of such groups, end up paying with their lives. No sooner does Pakistans regime ban a terrorist group, than is a new one born out of the constituents of the banned entity. In this incredible metamorphosis, names change; operatives remain the same and operations continue unabated. It is the veritable old wine in a new bottle. New jehadi (holy warrior) groups form on a daily basis, with no administrative or security apparatus in place to monitor such activities. The recent killing of innocent people in a church in Karachi and the bombing of a shuttle bus full of French workers in front of the Sheraton hotel in the same city are indicators that terrorists in Pakistan are on the prowl. This terror campaign is also increasingly directed towards religious minorities such as Christians and even Muslim sects like Shias and Ahmediyas.

Until recently, one was inclined to give the benefit of doubt to Musharraf in such matters. However, it is becoming crystal-clear that he cannot survive without the help of ISI and the terrorist groups. The general has no popular support. The results of the sham referendum he held in April 2002 were achieved through the machinations of state, military and terrorist coercions. Neutral observers, including Pakistani citizens, have reported that the actual voting percentage was an abysmal 5 - 7\% of the total electorate, instead of the 60+ \% claimed by the junta. Islamabads enthusiasm for preaching democracy apparently does not extend to being an active practitioner. Musharraf cannot survive if he does not appease the terrorists, many of whom have just returned from Afghanistan, after fleeing from our forces. The only way Musharraf can remain in power is by diverting the ire of terrorists away from his regime. The democratic republic of India is an inviting and convenient target for this diversion.

It is but an open secret that Islamic terrorists who are armed and trained in Pakistan operate across the international border and the 1971 Line of Control (LoC) in the Indian state of Jammu & Kashmir. They have killed over 60,000 people in the last decade, most of them civilians, including and especially women and children. Much as Pakistans regime denies any involvement in the matter, it is a matter of public record that the ISI, a state within a state, is responsible for instigating, planning and carrying out a large majority of terrorist acts in the region. Terrorists have indulged in the ethnic cleansing of Hindus from the state. They have also killed a large number of Muslims who have opposed violence. Even after our declaration of the war on terror, these terrorists have struck many times in India, not even sparing the houses of democracy the state Assembly building in Srinagar, the capital of Jammu & Kashmir (October 2001) and the notorious attack on Indias Parliament during its full session (December 2001). Just last week, terrorists attacked a housing unit in Jammu & Kashmir and killed over 30 people, most of them women and children. Indian law enforcement authorities have identified all the perpetrators of every one of the above attacks as Pakistani nationals. Just this week, terrorists shot dead a well-known moderate Kashmiri, Abdul Ghani Lone, who had openly condemned the activities of terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir.

The noises made by the Musharraf regime expressing condemnation of successive attacks, sympathy for the victims, shedding of crocodile tears and promises of cooperation with the West have become all too familiar. These sounds are special effects designed to mask the actual drama played out behind the scenes, which happens to be the training and arming of Islamic terrorist movements all over the world. Pakistans ISI is the director and the dictatorship of Pakistan, led by Musharraf, is the producer of this terrifying theatre production. Pakistan has become a jihad factory, exporting terrorists all over the world and in very large numbers to India, Bangladesh, Philippines and Indonesia. The fingerprints of the ISI are all over the conflict in Chechnya. All this might have been amusing but for the fact that human lives are involved and the ISI has its itchy finger on the triggers of nuclear weapons and delivery systems, including Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles. A recent Washington Post report exposed the fact that the Pakistani army came close to using its nuclear arsenal against India in a 1999 border skirmish, a conflict engendered entirely by Pakistans armed forces and of course, the ISI. Of significant import is the fact that the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, a civilian duly elected by the population, had no control over this misadventure. It clearly proves that the army and the ISI are a law unto themselves in Pakistan. With senior politicians exiled on one pretext or another, civilians have been completely sidelined. Many analysts are now opining that Pakistans army itself is Talibanized up to and including the topmost levels, even as its commanders portray a disarmingly deceptive picture of a secular, professional outfit.

Sir, studies by senior analysts have established that India has become the guinea pig of terrorists for perfecting attacks on the west. The parallels in methods used to hijack an Indian airliner just before Christmas Eve of 1999 and the hijacking of four American airliners on September 11, 2001 are absolutely chilling.

Mr. President, Pakistan is the epitome of a failed state. No amount of foreign support -- monetary or military -- can help salvage the situation. Only awakening, awareness and secular education within that country can propel it away from being the hub of terror and violence in the world. Such a transformation is possible, but is incompatible with the apparent objectives of a power-hungry, radical, terrorist-harboring military regime, which has an abysmal record of human rights violations.

A tremendously disturbing fact is that Pakistan is the only country in the world with a nuclear weapons program controlled by the military. This is the same military establishment that created and nurtured the Taliban, which gave refuge to Al Qaeda. Now, Mr. President, how can we trust Pakistans ruling clique not to share its nuclear secrets with the Frankenstein of its own making? What is the guarantee, respected Sir, that these monsters will not use such weapons of mass destruction against America and its citizens?

Cato Institutes Policy Analysis No. 436 of May 8, 2002 titled, Pakistan in Americas War against Terrorism: Strategic Ally or Unreliable Client? summarizes, Washington should view Pakistan, with its dictatorship, failed economy, and insecure nuclear arsenal, as a reluctant supporter of U.S. goals at best and as a potential long-term problem at worst.

The military regime in Islamabad is not our friend, Mr. President. It is an enemy mouthing the right words to fool us and take advantage of our largesse and friendship. It is not with us, but against us. It is waiting for an opportunity to stab us in the back, just as it did India after the historic Lahore Accord in April of 1999.

Sir, as we all know, there is a crisis brewing in the Indian sub-continent. Over a million troops are locked in an eyeball-to-eyeball conflict. Over a billion lives are at stake. This crisis is absolutely the creation of Pakistans military and its intelligence agencies.

Mr. President, as the leaders of the free world, we must do everything in our power to ensure that a nuclear war will not break out in the sub-continent. It is also equally important that we work to protect American lives and interests. Pakistans ruling clique has stooped to nuclear blackmail and brinkmanship, with senior functionaries making daily pronouncements about their proclivity for using weapons of mass destruction. We should definitely not reward such criminal attitude. Pakistans regime is setting us up to fail, Mr. President, and we should see through their game. Circumstances appear to dictate that the United States must take direct control of Pakistans nuclear assets immediately. These assets should then be administered by the United States or a third-party like the United Nations. Regular weapons inspections -- a la Iraq -- must be enforced. Only such stringent control of Pakistans nuclear assets will put an end to the fears of a nuclear cataclysm. It will also provide us with the necessary operational freedom to take appropriate action to bring Al Qaeda and Taliban leaderships to justice.

On the diplomatic front, we must tell Pakistans government to detain and prosecute all the suspected terrorists forthwith, ban sectarian organizations for real and strike hard at the root of the evil of terrorism. We must demand and obtain real cooperation in the war against terrorism, Mr. President, not the false intelligence leads and stonewalling we have been getting of late. We must ask forcefully that Pakistans military disclose the whereabouts of senior Taliban and Al Qaeda leadership. In addition, we must insist that this regime of Gen. Musharrafs honor the commitment it made in the wake of the terrorist attack on Indias Parliament, and start by deporting the 20 terrorists India has asked for. That would be an honest beginning to the end of terror in the subcontinent. Moreover, we must work hard to strengthen grassroots democracy, promote secularism and advance religious freedom in Pakistan.

Sir, we earnestly appeal to you to take firm and decisive action in dealing with an ally whose credentials increasingly appear to be suspect. Such action might be the only way to avert a nuclear catastrophe on the Indian sub-continent, save lives and avoid a world war.

With Warm Regards,