Indian Defence Review

“¦General Aslam Beg and Hamid Gul talked about nuking India, irrespective from where and by whom it was attacked, both were stating the obvious fact. Pak nukes are uni-directional, aimed at India.

“Things began to get out of control in the 1980s when Pakistan went behind our back to the North Koreans and obtained their missiles. But even then the lack of miniaturization meant that it was still an aircraft-based delivery, and under our control.

“In 1992 the Soviet Union dissolved and a whole new world situation emerged. There is not a single think tank anywhere in world that had predicted this; neither did our thousands of Soviet experts. Soon China began to emerge as the potential threat, we zeroed in on India as a possible counter. Pakistan’s nukes now became an embarrassment and a problem. But even now its anti-Indian orientation meant that it was at worst a regional threat. Despite the talk of an ‘Islamic Bomb,’ we were certain that the Pak’s had limited ambitions related to India and India alone. Pan Islamism was a mere slogan for the pragmatic Punjabis, the real rulers of Pak. After all, under the most Islamist of Pak rulers General Zia Ul haq, the Pak army had no qualms in killing Palestinians with gusto in the September 1970 crackdown in Jordan.

“Things took a turn for the worse with rise of Al Qaeda in the early90s. The nuclear ‘Wal-Mart’ that AQ Khan created has already been spelt out by the Secretary of State. The 9/11 attack on the US confirmed our worst fears. In the aftermath of that attack we leaned on Pakistan to shut its proliferation efforts. In return we promised to let them keep 10 nukes to target the Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Ahmadabad, and Poona, with a 100 % spare. These are mated with missiles and in fixed silos. We ensured that the targeting system is inflexible. As a quid pro quo, Pakistan agreed to scale down its enrichment for the rest of the Uranium to below weapons grade. Thus, as a bargain we have virtually shut this route of fissile material to the terrorists,” he explained.

“The Indians have long suspected this and thus were the first to join us on the missile defense shield project. Unknown to the Pakistanis, we have given the Indians the latest Patriot and Sparrow anti- missile shield.”

Pausing for breath, he resumed, “All the Corps commanders, the real decision makers in Pakistan, are one with the President on this. This is a well known ‘secret’ in the ruling circles of Pakistan. When the President talks of his ideology of ‘Pakistan First’ he refers to the nukes as well. Even if the Islamists take over the country, no Pak General, howsoever Pan Islamist, will denude the Pak threat to India! When General Aslam Beg and Hamid Gul talked about nuking India, irrespective from where and by whom it was attacked, both were stating the obvious fact. Pak nukes are uni-directional, aimed at India.

“The Indians have long suspected this and thus were the first to join us on the missile defense shield project. Unknown to the Pakistanis, we have given the Indians the latest Patriot and Sparrow anti- missile shield. In turn, the Indians have accepted our proposal that since Pak is afraid of a pre-emptive Indian attack, India would keep its missiles and nuclear weapons separate, sort of ‘H minus 6’ deterrence. The Indians have carried out drills to ready their retaliatory nuclear weapons in six hours time after warning. In return for the shield we supplied, the Indians have accepted this compromise. This separation is known to the Pakistanis and we have thus allayed their fears of Indian pre-emption. All in all, a win all strategy,” he said.

There was a murmur of approval at this sharp Yankee business acumen. We create the threat and then offer the counter, of course, at a price.

“Given the fact that fissile material is not available from Pakistani sources and their nukes are neutralized, in a sense; I do not foresee a terrorist nuclear attack in the aftermath of Operation to kill OBL.”

The presentation by the NSA clinched the argument and NSC overwhelmingly approved the launching of Operation to nab OBL. The rest, as they say, is history.”

Courtesy: Sunita Johsi from the her book JIHAD: FROM HINDUKUSH TO ARMAGEDDON.