[Excerpt: However, Pakistan has point-blank refused to allow any external investigation into Khan (who is under house arrest), former chief of army staff Mirza Aslam Beg and former Pakistani president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Instead, Pakistan has passed on details of interviews with these people to concerned international authorities, including the IAEA and US authorities......In hurriedly arranged visits, Musharraf has recently not only signed agreements on anti-terror with former Soviet Muslim states, he has also handed over several operators arrested in Pakistan. Several military deals are secretly in the pipeline, including joint exercises and the sale and purchase of military hardware. Pakistan has already handed over a map to Central Asian Republic states for a trade route, of which Gwadar's warm waters will be the centrifugal point. ....The pace of these developments between the Central Asian states and Pakistan has been so rapid over the past three months that the US has been stunned.....A sop of F-16s was dished out to Pakistan, while at the same time pressure was renewed on exposing its proliferation mafia, and with a revived possible al-Qaeda link.....Asia Times Online has learned that Islamabad will continue to defy US pressure, while attempting to minimize its dependency on the US - even though the US still needs Pakistan assistance to keep Iran on the hook, and the Taliban resistance in Afghanistan under constant pressure.]
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GD14Df01.html Apr 14, 2005 Pakistan covers its bets on the US By Syed Saleem Shahzad KARACHI - With the US playing a carrot and stick game and Pakistan playing hide and seek over its nuclear program - past and present - the two sides are developing a relationship based on mutual interests, although Pakistan is developing alternative choices. The US is increasing pressure on Pakistan over its proliferation history, seeking to establish conclusive evidence that Iran is committed to a nuclear weapons program, while at the same time offering Islamabad - a key ally in the "war on terror" - inducements such as F-16s fighters. Pressure on Pakistan has risen since the arrest last year of Asher Karni, a 51-year-old Hungarian-born Israeli and South African businessman, in the US on charges of violating American export laws. He was accused of exporting "triggered spark gap" devices. These are used for medical purposes, but can also, when installed into an enriched uranium casing, ignite a nuclear explosion. During interrogation Karni revealed links with an underworld mafia operating in Pakistan and India. Despite giving details of unlawful shipments to India, no charges were brought against any Indian, but Asia Times Online contacts say that his evidence will be used to target Pakistan. In the coming days the US is expected to formally ask Pakistan to help bring a Pakistani businessmen, Humayun Khan, to the US for investigation. Karni came up with Khan's name in connection with arranging shipments to Pakistan. Investigations will also be reopened into Pakistani scientist Bashiruddin Mehmood. In late 2001, US officials investigating the activities of Osama bin Laden discovered that the al-Qaeda head had contacted some Pakistani nuclear experts for assistance in making a small nuclear device. US officials sought two veteran Pakistani nuclear scientists, in particular, Bashiruddin Mehmood and Abdul Majid, for interrogation. The two admitted to working in Afghanistan in recent years, but said they had only been providing "charitable assistance" to Afghans. Old wine in new bottles Since news of Pakistan's nuclear proliferation officially broke last year with the father of the country's program, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, admitting to proliferation, albeit in a "personal capacity", the US has laid siege to Pakistan's nuclear program. It has been learned that before a major non-proliferation treaty (NPT) conference in May, new pressures will be mounted exclusively on Pakistan to sign the NPT, which would allow the UN's watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to closely inspect Pakistan's nuclear sites. However, Pakistan has officially refused to sign the NPT. Up to a point, Pakistan has extended maximum cooperation to international agencies and provided them with evidence and material sources to investigate the nuclear underworld. However, Pakistan has point-blank refused to allow any external investigation into Khan (who is under house arrest), former chief of army staff Mirza Aslam Beg and former Pakistani president Ghulam Ishaq Khan. Instead, Pakistan has passed on details of interviews with these people to concerned international authorities, including the IAEA and US authorities. Pakistan's strategic circles are now debating how to deal with demands for further assistance. A case in point is Bashiruddin Mehmood. He was linked with the Taliban government in Afghanistan to develop agro-projects in Afghanistan through his non-governmental organization, but he was thought to have assisted al-Qaeda in acquiring nuclear weapons. He was immediately taken into custody. On US demands, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation kept Bashiruddin Mehmood at a private location in Pakistan for interrogation. He was released after no links were found to developing nuclear weapons for al-Qaeda. In the meantime, US agencies conducted investigations and inquiries with al-Qaeda detainees, and recovered documents from Kabul and Jalalabad. They concluded that al-Qaeda's focus to acquire nuclear material and weapons was on renegade scientists of Russia and the Central Asian Republics. Nevertheless, their focus remained on Pakistan, and they still want to pursue this avenue. A similar US mindset appeared when Iran's possible nuclear weapons program came under the spotlight. Certainly, elements of nuclear cooperation have been traced between Pakistan and Iran, but indigenous Iranian efforts and non-Pakistani sources are also involved. Recently, the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based anti-nuclear proliferation group, divulged that Iran had established a facility called Kalaye Electric in 1995. The Persian name, which means "electric goods", was apparently chosen to mislead people about the real purpose of the site. A US news agency quoted the institute's deputy director, Corey Hinderstein, who researched the Iranian site, as saying, "They have been using the site to research, develop and manufacture gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment." The centrifuges can also be used for enriching weapons-grade uranium. Hinderstein categorically mentioned that Iran also had "developed an indigenous capability to manufacture centrifuges". The fact is well documented by international agencies, yet all the focus of investigations is on the Pakistani side. The great Asian game At a time when the US, China and India have well-defined economic interests, strategic experts in Rawalpindi once again cling to their own theory of "greater Central Asia" with regard to the strategic depth that they feel will help them against US and Indian designs in the region. In the past, Pakistan was obsessed with cultivating former Soviet Muslim states through its Islamic ideology and establishing a "brotherhood", including Afghanistan. After September 11, everything was turned upside down, notably Pakistan having to abandon the Taliban, which it had nurtured. In hurriedly arranged visits, Musharraf has recently not only signed agreements on anti-terror with former Soviet Muslim states, he has also handed over several operators arrested in Pakistan. Several military deals are secretly in the pipeline, including joint exercises and the sale and purchase of military hardware. Pakistan has already handed over a map to Central Asian Republic states for a trade route, of which Gwadar's warm waters will be the centrifugal point. The pace of these developments between the Central Asian states and Pakistan has been so rapid over the past three months that the US has been stunned. A sop of F-16s was dished out to Pakistan, while at the same time pressure was renewed on exposing its proliferation mafia, and with a revived possible al-Qaeda link. Asia Times Online has learned that Islamabad will continue to defy US pressure, while attempting to minimize its dependency on the US - even though the US still needs Pakistan assistance to keep Iran on the hook, and the Taliban resistance in Afghanistan under constant pressure. Conventional wisdom has it that Pakistan has to rely on US aid, but its economic managers are drawing up an aggressive strategy to lessen this reliance. They have prepared a road map for privatization over the next five years in which major national assets, including in the power sector, telecom and even the national airline, will be sold off. They also plan to lay the foundations for complete liberalization leading to a full market economy, which will generate huge revenues for the state without sharing any liabilities. In terms of this grand plan, mostly Gulf-based companies will be encouraged to invest. Several have already arrived, while many more will come. "Leave it to me and I will not let Pakistan surrender to the US or India." President General Pervez Musharraf pledged to Kashmiri leaders in a briefing in Rawalpindi recently, after which they all came out with smiles on their faces. What Pakistan has developed as an alternative strategy to wean itself from the US is a gamble, whether in the field of economics or in the field of courting former Soviet states. But for the time being, it has forced the US to hang around on Pakistan's terms. Syed Saleem Shahzad, Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] enditem ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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