Nuclear deal with China

KARACHI: This is with reference to the letter “Nuclear deal with China” (June 22). I would like to point out that Pakistanis are also worried about weapon grade uranium and plutonium from Indian nuclear reactors falling into the “wrong” hands. In India’s case, the wrong hands can be either separatist fighters or some of the 836 million poor Indians struggling to survive on less than half a dollar a day. The possibility that someday extremists like Lt Col Purohit or General Hoon will seize power in India and blow Pakistan up also causes anxiety. It must not be forgotten that the nuclear race was started by India’s fundamentalist Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) just to tell the world that “Indians are not eunuchs”. With mad men like Bal Thackeray in the corridors of power, how can anyone be sure that India’s nuclear weapons and reactors are safe?

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2010.