ISLAMABAD, 22 March 2006 — Stung by US President George W. Bush’s refusal to grant access to American nuclear know-how, Pakistan accused the United States of discriminating against it and of upsetting the balance of power in South Asia.
To make it a point, Pakistan yesterday successfully test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile for the second time, without informing rival India, officials said.
The terrain-hugging Hatf VII Babur missile has a range of 500 km and can carry all kinds of warheads, a military official said.
President Pervez Musharraf witnessed the launch and congratulated the scientists involved, a military statement said.
“The strategic program, which had come to symbolize the nation’s resolve for its security, will continue to go from strength to strength with credible minimum deterrence as the cornerstone,” it quoted Musharraf as saying.
The statement added, “All phases of the planned trajectory were extremely successful and the missile impacted with pinpoint accuracy.” Pakistan first tested the indigenously developed Babur — named after an ancient Mogul emperor — in August 2005 and described it as a “milestone” in the country’s history.
Earlier late Monday, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri told the Senate that any deal to supply technology for civilian nuclear power programs for its rival India should also be available to Pakistan.
Bush, in a visit to Islamabad earlier this month immediately after concluding a nuclear accord in New Delhi, told President Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan was not being considered for a similar deal because of its different “history” and different needs.
“Pakistan will not accept any discriminatory treatment,” Kasuri told the upper house. “The US must have a package approach while dealing with India and Pakistan.”
Yesterday, at a seminar in Islamabad, Pakistani defense analysts aired fears that the US-India deal would sway the balance of power in South Asia even further in India’s favor. “This imbalance now gets even worse as a consequence of America’s total and all out support to India,” said Talat Masood, a former general-turned-analyst.
Visiting Pakistan last week at Bush’s behest, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman gave Pakistani officials short shrift when they floated ideas of creating “nuclear parks” for US companies to develop nuclear energy plants.
Despite being told to forget about any deal, Pakistani officials’ protestations have become louder in recent days, possibly encouraged, analysts say, by the strong criticism Bush encountered at home over the concession to India, a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Pakistan, though a key ally of the United States in a global war on terrorism, remains under a cloud due to the role played by its top scientist in a nuclear black market scandal.
The disgraced scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, was placed under house arrest over two years ago after admitting selling nuclear parts to Libya, Iran and North Korea, and US investigators have been barred from questioning him. The United States meantime has engaged India, seeing opportunities in its growing economic power, and, according to analysts, its potential as regional counterweight to China.
Pakistan’s hopes that friendship with the United States could give it extra diplomatic muscle in dealing with rival India have been dashed, analysts say.
“I don’t expect any 180 degree turn in our foreign policy, but we should re-evaluate our reference points with the United States,” said Shireen Mazari, head of the Institute of Strategic Studies.
“We should put a brake on our open-ended cooperation ... We are not as weak as we think we are.” Shifting alliances could see Pakistan turn once more toward its old friend, China. Late last week, Pakistani media reported Musharraf as saying he will seek more support from Beijing.
China helped Pakistan build a 300 MW nuclear plant at Chasma town in Pubjab province and is currently helping to build a second facility at the same site.