NEW DELHI, 31 October — Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is "safe" and not in danger of falling into the hands of fundamentalist groups, India’s Defense Minister George Fernandes said here yesterday.
"Politics apart, I must give them (Pakistanis) credit that they are responsible people and will not allow people to walk away with nuclear weapons," Fernandes told a seminar on terrorism.
"Their nuclear assets are in safe hands. Those concerned with Pakistan’s nuclear program are responsible people."
Fernandes’ comments came in the wake of reports in all major Indian newspapers yesterday that an elite US military unit was training with Israeli commandos to take out Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in case President Pervez Musharraf was overthrown in a coup.
The reports quoting a story published by the New Yorker magazine said the US plan was aimed at ensuring that Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal did not fall into the hands of renegades.
Musharraf has risked the ire of Islamic groups in Pakistan by allowing the use of its airspace to US warplanes bombing targets in Afghanistan and the use of several airbases for emergency landings and possible search and rescue missions.
The outspoken defense minister also said yesterday that Washington may never capture Osama Bin Laden and dubbed its plan to overthrow Afghanistan’s ruling Taleban "a long-term gamble".
His comments came amid signs that, after three weeks of airstrikes on Afghanistan, the international coalition put together by the United States following the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington was beginning to fray at the edges.
India has thrown its weight behind the US-led war on terrorism and has offered to provide facilities for American military forces.
Credit accorded to Pakistan for keeping their nuclear weapons in safe hands by Fernandes gives a new dimension to developments in South Asia.
Fernandes’ statement is significant due to the sudden importance being given to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons by United States and Israel.
A special US unit is reported to be training with Israeli commandos to seize Pakistani nuclear weapons in case President Pervez Musharraf is toppled.
Comments of Fernandes suggest that New Delhi does not want the US and Israel to seize its neighbor’s nuclear weapons.
Fernandes also cast doubt on the US objectives, which he said were to "capture of Osama Bin Laden...dead or alive" and "overthrow the Taleban regime and installation of a government that will re-establish democratic rule in the country".
"The first task may end up as an unfulfilled wish," he told a seminar on the global fight against terrorism.
"The second may be a long-term gamble."
The US has yet to get Bin Laden, the chief suspect in the hijacked aircraft attacks, or make a clear dent in the resolve of his hosts, the Taleban, despite heavy air bombardment.
Some US allies have begun to express concern that the continued bombing of Afghanistan, and the resulting deaths of civilians, is damaging the US cause.
