So, We Are Nuclear Too!!

The economic tragedy and the regional instability cannot allow anyone to be elated on either side`s nuclear tests (unless you have the IQ of a boiled turnip). However, it has to be clear to all except supreme moron Vajpayee (``Pakistani tests - that we caused - vindicate our nuclear tests that caused them, `cause thats good logic``), that the Indian Govt. through a mixture of trying to stabilize themselves domestically and assert themselves internationally, forced Pakistan`s hand.

While I am no fan of Sharif, I cannot see this as a mistake. Given the internal pressure and the credible security risk (especially the pathetic, shameless taunts from the Indian Govt.), there was very little that Pakistan could have done.

Moeover, the international community offered no ``nuclear umbrella`` people say. Frankly, WHAT THE HELL IS A NUCLEAR UMBRELLA? DO you really think that the West would care two-hoots if India actually did play hardballs on Kashmir or threaten the nuclear plants given its recently self-crowned nuclear regality? Even if we dismiss the possibility of a nuclear attack, could we honestly have dismissed the possibility of them dealing with conflicting issues with a superior bullying stance (even more so than they have done in the past?)

Yes, Indians knew we had the nuclear prowess. But a prowess that is not unequivocally demonstrated is not worth much.

There are no jubiliations that nuclear warheads are aimed at populated areas of South Asia.. But as a Pakistani I regret not our reaction.

My only regret is that the nuclear tests were not done under bilawal house.

Well said, its a nice article. Americans are hypocrites, they are the ones who started this. They are responsible for everything in terms of nuclear arms race, and now they are trying to play wise guy.

While this was another brilliant article from Saima, I would not go AJ`s route of blaming US. We get nowhere trying to assign blames.

In the context of techonology and availablity of goods, I have to say that while Pakistan may not have the technical sophistication of the more developed countries, this does not mean that Pakistani companies have not built (not assembled) cars - Proficient. Maybe this would be a time when we would be forced to produce our own goods to survive, even though technologically they might be out by several decades.

Thank you for the compliment Amin, and to clarify I do-not hold USA responsible for the decisions of these two nations. I do hold the super powers responsible for making the nuclear option seem a
short-cut to power.

Taking history into account the Super powers conflicts came to a head when they matched each others destructive capabilities. When each became equally fearful of the other, diplomacy, dialogue and co-operation started assuming a greater focus and a pivotal role in international relations. Interestingly the nuclear nations are the greatest powers in global poltics.

The message that they have unwittingly sent to the rest of the world, is that nuclear equals power and a ticket for arrival in global power plays.
In this way, Pakistan and India can be termed the nuclear yuppies.

Whether Pakistani leaders have the commitment and the discipline to restrain their newly developed nuclear egos, only time shall tell. Pakistan has taken a strategic short-cut and the real test of the nation`s character will take place now.

Pakistan has declared an emergency in the country which means that public demonstrations and free speech have been restricted (on paper). Parliamentary debateshave not started as yet. We must remember that Pakistan is a new democracy (8 years old) where tolerance and trust between the people and the Government is barely developing.
However, so far all political parties have supported the Govt`s decision.

Foreign currency withdrawals in rupee equivalent at the bank rate of Rs46:1USD have been allowed. The secondary market however, is free to trade foreign currency. These measures are for a period of four months. Considering the nature of the
political emergency, which the country could ill-afford, these measures were necessary.

The tragedy is India`s stand on the issue. The real issues that underlie the tension between India and Pakistan have not been addressed by the diplomatic road. India`s BJP are justifying its nuclear stand more than sending positive reassurances to the region. Why the BJP felt so insecure that it carried out Nuclear tests is anyone`s guess.

Faaiz Hussain`s comments exemplify the irony of the situation. Making the best of the bomb is what we will have to do to prevent an all out conflict and a harsh internal crisis in the post-nuclear sub-continent.

Going to AZ, Keeping one step ahead of USA is not required.
Keeping a head is more important. :-)

Yes, Saima
Let`s dare to hope. Let`s dare to build. Let`s care about Pakistan.You are right in the jubilation of the nation. But many hearts have silently bled within. This is a crossroad at which either we as a nation will thrive or we`ll perish. If once again history repeats itself and the leadership turns to tyranny and the masses remain intoxicated in enthusiasm, then let us hope that may we not live to see our ``Home`` break down. But if, ( let us kneel in prayer that may it be so)we come out of this political, economic and social crisis as a more self reliant and mature nation, somewhere in the heavans, the Quaid will smile with tears in his eyes...at last we did it! after fifty years of crawling Pakistan has learnt to walk! Ideas are numerous...but practical application of these are scanty. if somehow, we can get every person in our country to work, every child educated (privately if not in a formal instituition), if every Pakistani can get the basic facilities of life, then we can stand up and salute to the ``world sanctions`` and ask for a little more ``trouble`` so that we learn to rely on our worth. We are all the ``brains`` of Pakistan and the major part of the population is our muscles. Can`t we get our ``body`` to work efficiently and remain healthy after all the exertion?? we are all unsure, but we can have a faith in our individual efforts. we can be honest in our lives and professions. i am not interested in the patriotism that asks to devastate India. I `d give anything for a positive patriotism. Let`s surprize the world in ways that history can cheerish..in ways that our children can live to see and follow!

all my prayers,
Amber

Brilliantly stated.

Lets examine what was easier to accomplish for both countries:

-- Increase literacy by 15% in 5 years or detonate
-- Double spending on education or detonate
-- Provide basic human rights to people or detonate
-- Decrease corruption by 15% or detonate
-- ...

The leaders used their judgement and were endorsed by 80 % of their voters. Quite democratic.

Perhaps a new era has dawned. If we all want something hard enough the government will do it. Now the small matter of deciding what we want as much as detonating nuclear weapons in each others face... ehh, Cricket World-Cup, Hockey World-Cup, education, free sex, religious revolution, air-conditioning, two meals a day, justice system, freedom to just ``be,`` gosh, I cant decide ...

( * * Has the nation found its conscience? Dare we hope? Dare we build? And lastly, dare we care about Pakistan? * *)

A nation`s concience originates from the collective consciousness of its people. Of course, we must build, of course, we must care ... but only after we have fulfilled our basic needs - two square meals for some and detonations for others. Hopefully we can build so everyone gets what they want.

The decision had to be taken, India is a threat and please dont say thats our imagination. The BJP is a fanatical govt that has bluntly threatened Pakistan on Kashmir. What did you want Pakistan to do talk peace when India was gathering troops on the border? What comes first the security of the country or the Environment? Pakistan did wait for International response but what happened? Lame assurances and light condemnation of Indias aggressive designs. Pakistanis should face up to the the new Geo-Political reality we dont need to be dependent on others. Rather than finding ways to criticise the decision why dont we all decide that from today we will only buy Pakistani products
and reduce what we spend on luxury items. Lets together convince people around us that this is the opportunity to realize the dream that Quaid e Azam had. This is the historic opening for us where we can really give to our country and lets give more than just words , I personally have decided that from today I will not buy any imported goods and that I will give 25% of my earnings every month to people who need it more than I do
This is a promise that Iam making to all my fellow country men/women, let us try and make the best of this opportunity that Allah has given us.

PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!

Re: Najam Mahmud

Your patriotism is well placed and most Pakistani`s including myself `feel` much the same way. We feel threatened and insecure. We did feel passionately relieved after the tests. But we must channel these emotions in the right direction. We must ask and answer these questions:
1.How long can we race with India? and what will it do to our country?
2.Is this our only option? Even now we can end the arms race and this is something both Govt.s have to be rational about.
3. Isn`t it time we thought about the people of the two countries?. History has shown the horror that perpetuates because of the short-sightedness of war.
4. Why can`t Pakistan set an example of restraint and show the level of its responsibilty by signing the CTBT?. India would be morally bound to do the same.
5. Why can`t we change our focus to make nuclear weapons the common enemy of the two nations rather than each other.
6. Why can`t we show that it is never too late to talk. Let us swallow our false pride for the sake of our nuclear responsibility and the rights of our people.
7. Why can`t we show the real courage required to forge a strong nation? We have made the immediate (perhaps easier?) choice, why not show that we are capable of long-term strategy as well?

Perhaps I speak for myself, and perhaps poltical analysts and strategists find this too small a consideration, but the reactions of the village people in Chagai who live on rain and number 200 is so touching (DAWN:31MAY98) that I feel like saying, `take Kashmir, let me keep my own innocent people safe, who are as nothing to BJP and perhaps mean little to the leaders of my country.`

RE: SAIMA SHAH

Ref your response I totally agree that now after the successful tests Pakistan should go on a Diplomatic offensive, which should include a unilateral siging of CTBT and NPT. Pakistan should also offically declare a policy of No first use of Nuclear weapons. We do not need to enter an arms race , but we do need to maintain a minimum credible deterrence and thats the advantage of having the nuclear capability that it actually allows you to spend less on conventional arms. The entire doctrine is based on `` unacceptable damage `` which deters a war in the first place.

I again fully agree that we must have a long term strategy and that should be to become more independent. We need to modify our Foreign Policy so that the focus shifts from the United States, our startegy must be to build relations with countries like France and South Africa that are more fair in their policies and more pragmatic in their approach towards South Asia. We need on the domestic front to enforce land reforms so that the exploitation of the rural populations can come to an end, this step would also help in increasing the low literacy rate in our country.
Pakistan has all it takes to become a modern well developed welfare Islamic state a bit of sincerity and disipline can do wonders.

Ms Shah, your comments are commendable, but unfortunately taking the high moral ground, involves risk, - a risk that many amongst us are unwilling to take. Nations or any people donot
think or act as monoliths, there is always a
tension in the pervasive political thought.
You suggestions are appreciated and your idealism admired, but unfortunately you are in the minority, - We share your thoughts and we
applaud you intent, but the rest of us are
too busy, too uncaring and too involved in
furnishing two square meals a day for our families. As a consequence our attention spans
are short, our gratification immediate, - and
politicians pander to those concerns. Intellectual idealism gives us instantenous satisfaction, by scanning the op-ed pieces of the local paper, between the stock columns and the
tv guide.

The questions that you ask of us are valid,
you dare to challenge our motivations and intent,
which we callously and convieniently shift on to others, Yet all is not in vain, with successive generations we are more cognizant of the inequities that surround us and more conscious of our own role in the society that we call home.

In time, Nations will be measured not on the strength of their nuclear stockpiles, or their
military toys, but on things that really
matter health, education, justice, equity and
prosperity, the notion that our children will
have a better future than we did - and the legacy
that we leave behind is one of hope and not of despondency.

One of the things that troubles me most about Pakistan`s decision to make this unethical decision is that the test site was Chagai in Balochistan - despite opposition in Balochistan a week or so before the actual testing. I know, I know, Balochistan is the least densely populated province of the country. But isnt it an interesting coincidence that the most obvious beneficiary of this arms race will be the military, which is almost entirely non-Baloch. While the communities most directly affected by these tests -- from nuclear fallout, down-wind radiation, etc. -- will be Balochs. And, this is yet another in a long list of treating Balochs as secondary, dispensible, unimportant citizens of the country. Indirectly, of course, the poor and even the middle class will continue to suffer from the political and economic consequences of these tests.

I guess hoping that pakistan would not test was equivalent to hoping for a REAL leader like Nelson Mandela - very few and very far between.

RE: Saima

Self-respect! I dont get it. Honor (and self-respect) as articulated by NS and as defined within the context of military strength are so obviously patriarchal and violent. This is the same kind of honor that is invoked in karo kari and the persecution of non-Muslims. My self-respect as a Pakistani has nothing to do with phallic tools of destruction!!

But, liked the last part of the essay and good to see you back ;o)

Wonderful reply Saad. As for those of you worried about free speech in Pakistan, go ahead and read read Cowasjee and what he had to say in Sunday`s ``Dawn``. To date, I haven`t read about his arrest or his being labelled traitor by the government. Hopefully this will allay everyone`s fears.

As for those people taking the ``two square meals a day`` lamentation: what would you rather have? A tattered economy due to no sense of security and consequantly zero investor confidence? The constant fear of having one of our industrial centres being wiped off from the face of the Earth while we discuss what the West does or does not want? (Like I said, in 1965, we had a treaty with the US that an attack on us would be viewed as an attack on the US, yet I don`t recall reading about the 101st dropping from the sky on the nights og 6 to 21st september. Ref: ``Working with Zia`` by KM Arif, Working paper on Pakistan`s defence relations with the US (I forget the author) and others) OR a trump card instead of a begging bowl? (Aussies refused to impose trade sanctions on us today (Dawn) and from what I am hearing on CNN, we don`t want to pushed to the limit where we might sell these weapons to some undesirable countries. Of all the people Kissinger of the ``Pakistan will be made a horrible example of...`` fame was advocating incentives for us so that we don`t go the rebel way. Therefore I think, they will have to relent sooner or later because the fact that knowledge and technology is now in Muslim hands and can be transferred has to be a real concern to the west.
Now it is also being said that this blow job administration will work to repeal the sanctions law so that Israel can also test. If that happens we come under a lot of shall we say temptative pressure to sell/transfer tech. to other states. In that case what will the west do?

Regards
Hassan

Re: Hassan.


We were part of CENTO, somtime in the earlier sixties, - I believe we got out of CENTO by the time of the 65 war. Even the CENTO treaty countries, were bound together by threat of a communist invasion ( a la the Domino theory). India although partial to the soviet sphere of influence was never considered a communist satellite. The US at no time had guaranteed
Pakistan security from India, - That was a figment
of our political imagination.

Secondly after the East Pakistani debacle,
and the almost route of the Pakistani forces, on the Western front, Pakistan owes it existence to the climate of the cold war - where US and Russian
political posturing resulted in the status quo
on the Western borders.

Secondly you are incorrect about political
harassment of journalists, Cowasjee has subject
to continual court spoenas, and government harasmment on a ongoing basis - his perseverance is admirable and is a testament to the veracity of his words. Pakistan is far from being a safe haven for free speech.

Nuclear bombs donot a nation feed. Let us
undertake an audit of what we have vs what we dont, and the results are apparent. If only Pakistani actions were as loud as Pakistani rhetoric.

Re: BG
``I guess hoping that pakistan would not test was equivalent to hoping for a REAL leader like Nelson Mandela - very few and very far between.``

Don`t forget Gandhi either. A real hero.

`RE: Saima

Self-respect! I dont get it. Honor (and self-respect) as articulated by NS
and as defined within the context of military strength are so obviously patriarchal and violent. This is the same kind of honor that is invoked in
karo kari and the persecution of non-Muslims. My self-respect as a Pakistani has nothing to do with phallic tools of destruction!! `

Hear Hear!. Trust you to pick on this aspect:-) In point of fact, NS DID use the word `mardanaawar` (masculine) nation to defend Pakistan`s decision. (You can imagine my consternation).

Also, a senior Indian scientist said after the bomb blast that all the time he was growing up the world treated the Indians as `dirt` and now they could see who was what. Self-respect or really the true word `ghairat ko lalkaro` (remember Urdu movies) is an emotion that is invoked in order to avenge/ revenge a humiliation. Of-course the revenge is `masculine` and superior to a `female` reaction which will be grief over the loss and acceptance of the defeat with ultimate self-sacrifice with regard to social mores and her conscience.

On a practical front, this `IS` how politicians/strategists have communicated over centuries of human civilization.

On the Baluchistan aspect, my sympathies for Chagai. some comfort though is that these tests are not radioactive and DONOT threaten the environment since they were under-ground. ///It would be great if some scientist at Chowk could tell us more about what ACTUALLY took place down there, with a comparison with India///.

This was a decision chosen by the people. So we have to speak of Pakistan. The Baluchi hijacking was an imaginative note of dissent but then no one was listening anymore and the decision had been made. Like all major changes, the bomb blasts are not all negative. They can serve as a powerful re-think on economic strategy towards more self-reliance and greater efficiency (which many economists have been suggesting for a long long time). The real test is to come and that is the will of the people.

PS: Nice to see you too:-)

RE: Syed Ahmed.

I believe I never mentioned CENTO/SEATO. This was a treaty signed in 1950 for a twenty year period. It was re-iterated after Ayub Khan came to power and was in effect during the war (Pl. refer to the sources quoted in my earlier mail). The treaty did NOT say anything about communist countries. An attack from any country..... This prompted Ayub to make us America`s most allied ally.
As for for our near route in 71 in the west. I would ask you to back it up with some references. The historical and defence accounts both Pakistani and international I have read seem to tell a different tale.
Tis true that nuclear weapons do not a nation feed, but they keep the nation alive and let it sleep a little bit more securely. In the face of a threat they prevent investor confidence and the moolah that will buy the stuff which will feed the nation from leaving the country in a hurry. Besides the world seems more receptive to us now after the bang. The Brits today refused to suspend aid to us. That to say the least was a big surprise. (Dawn today) As for Cowasjee, I am still waiting for news that he has been fined or even charged with something. Same goes for the writers in The News. So where exactly is this repression thingie???

Regards
Hassan

RE: Saima
``This was a decision chosen by the people. So we have to speak of Pakistan. The Baluchi hijacking was an imaginative note of dissent but then no one was listening anymore and the decision had been made. ``

I guess that`s where I have a problem. There was opposition by the people directly affected, even if one only considers that the test site was in balochistan (without the environmental consequences). the new york times only mentioned jubilant crowds in islamabad, karachi and lahore. what about the rest of pakistan? its very convenient to consider people paksitanis and expect them to fall into line when one wants and ignore them otherwise. its this same high-handedness that cost us east pakistan. and if one brings up issues like this, one is accused of being `divisive`, when in fact high-handedness is what is actually divisive. stifling or going against dissent does not build confidence or unity. and, like you, i wonder how much of the propoganda about the `cleanliness` of these tests is accurate. after all, i hardly ever believe what the government says.

``Like all major changes, the bomb blasts are not all negative. They can serve as a powerful re-think on economic strategy towards more self-reliance and greater efficiency (which many economists have been suggesting for a long long time). The real test is to come and that is the will of the people.``

i have no such hopes. i can only think of right wing sentiments, religious intorlerance and paranoia and fascism becoming more dominant in the country as inflation sky rockets and the economy plunges. IF the opposite happens - well, i will happily eat all my words and more. Lets see in nine months.

and, on the topic of the invokation of male-centered language like `honor` etc -- didnt vajpayee also say, `we are not eunuchs anymore``? if that is not phallic, i ask you what is ;o)