Ally, Friend or Foe?

The Bush administration has given a go-ahead signal to the Central Intelligence Agency to closely monitor Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, besides putting in place a contingency plan

__________________ by Amir Mir

Having imposed trade sanctions on the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) for what it calls exporting nuclear technology to North Korea, the Bush administration has put in place a contingency plan to neutralise the ’’threat of Pakistani nuclear technology falling into the hands of Islamic fundamentalists’’.
Though Pakistani government denies having knowledge about any such Washington decision, a latest report by the London-based Jane’s Intelligence Digest, headlined “Musharraf in peril”, said that the Bush administration has given a go-ahead signal to the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to closely monitor Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme. The report added that the US had put in place a contingency plan.
’’Amid the intensifying hunt for Al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and the US-led military campaign against Iraq, President Pervez Musharraf and the new government in Islamabad are facing tough opposition from Islamic groups which made impressive electoral gains last October on an anti-US platform. These groups are constantly strengthening their position within the country and now pose a direct threat to the survival of the general’s regime,’’ the report said.
’’It’s important for Washington to ensure that militant Islamic groups do not get access to Pakistan’s nuclear assets and technology. The fear is that a dirty bomb could be used to target the US’’, said the Jane’s report.

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