Sunday, November 11, 2001

Pakistan relocates nuclear arsenal

By MOLLY MOORE and KAMRAN KHAN The Washington Post ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, ordered an emergency redeployment of the country's nuclear arsenal to at least six new secret locations and has reorganized military oversight of the nuclear forces in the weeks since Pakistan joined the U.S. campaign against terrorism, according to senior officials here. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, ordered an emergency redeployment of the country's nuclear arsenal to at least six new secret locations and has reorganized military oversight of the nuclear forces in the weeks since Pakistan joined the U.S. campaign against terrorism, according to senior officials here.

The Pakistan military began relocating critical nuclear weapons components within two days of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, fearful of possible strikes against the country's nuclear facilities, military officials said. Another reason for the movement, officials said, was to remove them from air bases and corridors that might be used by the United States in an attack on Afghanistan.

Musharraf also created a Stategic Planning Division, headed by a three-star general who will oversee operations. This decision, not previously disclosed, was part of last month's shuffle of the top military and intelligence leadership just hours before the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan began Oct. 7. The shake-up was designed to sideline officers considered too sympathetic to the Taliban or other extremist religious factions, officials said.

Musharraf's actions were part of an effort to tighten security around Pakistan's nuclear weapons program in the face of widespread concerns that nuclear devices or fissile material could be vulnerable to attack or theft. The changes were also intended to help keep control of the nuclear program out of the hands of religious hard-liners in the military if Musharraf were assassinated or ousted from office, officials said.

http://web.star-telegram.com/content/fortworth/2001/11/11/topstory/fw010101-1111-XA013-1.htm?template=aprint.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 11, 2001

Answers

From a previous article on this subject.

South Asia experts in the U.S. "have doubts about Musharraf's ability to maintain control over the military and its nuclear arsenal in the event of a coup attempt."

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), November 11, 2001.