Should civilians or military have control of nukes?

Audience takes on author over his idea of keeping final authority with the president

ISLAMABAD: Should the elected civilian government or the military control the country’s nuclear arsenal?

This question stemmed out of a book launch on Pakistan’s nuclear history, Learning to Live with the Bomb. Pakistan: 1998–2016, at the Islamabad Literature Festival on Saturday.



The author of the book, retired army officer Naeem Salek, emphasised the role of the military in nuclear command and operations world over. But he was quickly interrupted by a few members of the audience who stressed the civilian supremacy -  holding up the command chain of the country with one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world– the US. They also pointed to neighbouring India where the elected prime minister holds final authority in any nuclear decision.

Charles Kennedy, an academic and researcher in the field of politics and government systems in South Asia, said the book was a significant contribution in the field. “If not in the beginning of the programme, Pakistan has certainly established safeguards around its nuclear programme by now,” Kennedy said.



He said the status of ‘Muslim bomb’, was a misconception. “There has been no attempt by Pakistan as a state to export nuclear technology … AQ Khan is typified as a criminal who sold nuclear technology for his own goals,” he said.

To a question why the book had no mentions of Abdul Qadir Khan, Salek said that individuals should not be made larger-than-life personalities.

“Due to his recklessness, he caused more damage to the programme [than he befitted it],” Salek went on to say.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2017.