Safer nukes

The security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons has figured into mainstream debate with the US, India and other nations on several occasions. The greatest fear of all is, of course, that the weapons could somehow fall into the hands of militants creating what could be a global nightmare. It is, therefore, good news that Pakistan has taken steps to avoid such a situation by setting up the new Special Response Force (SRF), which will add to the elaborate security procedures already in place to guard the stock of nuclear weapons.

The SRF has been trained by the Strategic Plan Division Training Academy and a passing-out parade to officially inaugurate it was held recently. A military spokesman stated that the force is intended to protect the weapons against any threat from external, as well as internal elements. The new security set-up is said to consist of expertly trained personnel with top-notch abilities to defend what is one of the country’s most important security assets. Even more significant is the fact that its actual range of ability is that its presence will make people in many places feel safer. Despite these measures, the potential of an attack cannot be denied, but the SRF ought to provide some buffer. The internal security situation remains a volatile one with the Taliban still wielding significant power.

It is also a fact that other nations had their eyes firmly fixed on the weapon. We have heard rumours of Israeli plans to take out the nukes with a strike. All such scenarios, of course, represent the highest level of danger for our country and also for the region. The establishment of the SRF should help calm fears and take some of the pressures off Pakistan as it attempts to deal with other pertinent problems linked to its relations with the US, India and also governments in other capitals who have raised the issue of nuclear security again and again.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2012.