A highly unstable Pakistan, with world’s largest number of terrorists and the fastest growing nuclear weapons programme, today poses an imminent threat to world peace and order.
The reasons are obvious for such a grim prognosis. There cannot be any difference of opinion that Pakistan has never faced such an acute political, social and economic crisis as it is going through today. This crisis is clearly visible in the continuous decline or absence of institutions of governance in a country which has to feed, educate, employ and protect a population of over 220 million in another decade.
With the political process remaining a victim to corruption and apathy, Pakistan faces increasing social and economic disparities, widening the existing deep fault-lines within a society afflicted with a complex identity crisis since its birth on the `two-nation theory`.
These multiple crises have strengthened the military and the mullah, the two sets of interests who have had an incestuous relationship in keeping Pakistan hostage to radical ideologies and extremist persuasions. In the past six decades of its existence, Pakistan has witnessed the military using the mullah to further its domestic, national as well as strategic interests. The mullah, in turn, has benefited from this alliance in furthering its regional as well as global aspirations, although not with such visible success.
Out of this unholy alliance, a Frankenstein of terror has emerged in Pakistan which today threatens to destabilize the world so that Islam could dominate. The Pakistan military is today more religiously radicalized than ever, growing exponentially as it did after General Zia ul-Haq had sowed the first seeds of radical islam among the ranks and office corps of Pakistan Army. The mullahs, on the other hand, have become militarized over the years, becoming adept at using weapons and guerilla strategies, acquired from their masters in uniform, to pursue their ideological battles beyond the boundary walls of madrasas and international borders. The recent 18th amendment to the Constitution, while clipping the President of his powers to appoint army chief and dismiss a government, has not touched the Islamic features Gen Zia-ul-Haq had introduced in the statute.
Against this background, the threat of nuclear holocaust emanating from Pakistan becomes a reality.
The nuclear infrastructure is firmly under the control of Pakistan Army. This could have been a reassuring fact but for the mounting evidence of radical men and officers within the force. Even if the number of radicalized officers and men were fewer in number, the number of officers and men sympathetic to radical ideologies and terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) was quite significant.
Another recent evidence of the military-terrorist alliance was found in the Mumbai attacks. The mastermind of the attacks, Zaki-ur Rahman Lakhvi, for instance, was working with ISI Brigadiers in planning and executing the attacks. The lone surviving attacker, Ajmal Amir Kasab, had confessed that a `General Sahab` used to visit the training camp where he and others were trained by the army commandos, and tested them for accuracy in using weapons.
What transforms this alliance into a nuclear nightmare is the LeT’s stated objectives to acquire and use nuclear weapons. LeT’s supremo Hafiz Saeed has often invoked religious principles and quotations to justify the use of weapons of mass destruction. Saeed has stated that his group’s ultimate goal was to establish Caliphate for which it will go to any length, including using nuclear weapons.
Besides, there is substantial evidence of LeT hobnobbing with nuclear scientists in the past. For instance, AQ Khan was a regular visitor and speaker at the three-day annual congregations which LeT used to organize at Lahore. Khan was not the only guests at these meetings. Another nuclear scientist whose association with LeT was exposed was Sultan Bashiruddin. Bashiruddin had held extensive discussions with Osama bin Laden on acquiring nuclear materials. The US forces found several letters written by Bashiruddin to LeT leaders from al Qaida hideouts in Afghanistan.
It is therefore imperative that the world leaders gathered in Washington must seriously ponder over the possibility of extremist elements getting hold of radioactive or nuclear materials in Pakistan and discuss ways to prevent such a catastrophe.
