Pakistan’s secret N-links call for sanctions

The second tranche of thousands of official US dispatches has now been placed in the public domain by internet whistleblower WikiLeaks. Much of it is in the nature of private asides — riveting in itself but without any long-term impact on policy. What Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah thinks of Pakistan’s Asif Ali Zardari and his views on the Iran’s nuclear programme (should be nipped in the bud) may cause momentary embarrassment, but it won’t change the course of history. News about the blonde who plays nurse to Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi may titillate, but won’t cause much damage to international relations.

The most serious parts relate to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and its uranium enrichment programme. International anxiety about nuclear weapons falling into the hands of the al Qaeda and other jihadi elements is no secret. The Pakistan establishment — the army and the politicians — have not fought shy of putting forward the argument in order to get American military and economic aid. It has almost become a blackmailing tactic. The latest WikiLeaks disclosures point to a more dangerous situation — a nuclear enrichment programme at one of its research reactors with the possibility of it being diverted to make weapons.

Pakistan’s civilian nuclear installations — mostly supplied by China, with more in the offing — are common knowledge. It is the apprehension that these nuclear facilities can be misused that is new. This is not a very different situation from the one in Iran, whose civil N-programme triggered similar concerns. It follows that Pakistan should be brought under the ambit of the International Atomic Energy Agency inspection regime and any misuse discovered should be backed by appropriate sanctions.

The leaked documents reveal that Washington is pressuring Islamabad on the issue, but secretly. The issue now needs to be brought out into the open. Pakistan’s surreptitious nuclear weapons technology imports from North Korea and the complicity of China and the US have to be exposed. India has stakes in it because it affects the security environment in south Asia.