Finally, the fear in the minds of the general public and intelligentsia alike that the US had its eyes on our nuclear installations and that behind its great game in the so-called Af-Pak region was its nefarious plan to defang nuclear Pakistan seems to have been confirmed by a British newspaper saying that President Obama has threatened to land troops to ‘protect’ our nuclear assets in case of an attack by terrorists avenging the death of Osama bin Laden.It appears that President Obama is forgetting that our command and control capability to protect nuclear weapons is impeccable. It is indeed strong enough to pre-empt an attack by a regular state army. And there is no doubt that there has been a spate of mass-casualty attacks in the country and scores have died; however, jumping to the conclusion that terrorists will have the ability to destroy nuclear installations is preposterous and amounts to making a mountain out of a molehill.One is reminded of the hype created by the Obama Administration two years back that the Taliban in Swat were on the verge of running over Islamabad. The idea, therefore, of creating a scare about the possibility of a terrorist attack on our sensitive atomic facilities is only meant to further push Pakistan in the corner and isolate it in the international community. On the other hand, it was comforting to know that the troika meeting in Islamabad was unanimous in its resolve that the US must be stopped from carrying out unilateral strikes in future. Attacks like Operation Geronimo are, of course, acts of naked aggression. The Abbottabad episode has brought home to the military as well as political leadership the existential danger to our stability posed by the US.
Currently, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Senator John Kerry has arrived in Islamabad on Saturday after issuing a warning from Kabul of grave consequences that include cutting off aid. There, he also directly accused Pakistani authorities of having knowledge about terrorist sanctuaries. Here in Islamabad, he appears to be in same mode of confrontation as he has handed over to General Kayani a list of specific demands that are about launching operations against terrorist safe havens. North Waziristan and the Haqqani network that has been neutral towards Pakistan seem to be the obvious target that the US now wants eliminated. – Nation
