Imran Khan, Pakistan Army And Nuclear Peace

- Shyam Bhatia

Imran Khan has expressed his desire for better ties with New Delhi - open borders like the US and Canada-but behind the fanfare of his swearing-in ceremony, and the inevitable presence of Bollywood and Indian cricket stars, certain realities cannot be avoided.

For a start any Pakistani Prime Minister’s actual powers are severely limited by the army, the ultimate point of reference for the deep state that actually controls the country. As one of his predecessors, Benazir Bhutto, discovered to her cost, the prime minister may or may not be included in key decisions about how and where Pakistan deploys its nuclear weapons.

Benazir, a personal friend of mine from our student days in Oxford, had to literally force her way into meetings called by top military leaders who wanted to discuss the deployment and further growth of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons armoury. Crucially, she was kept out of the loop when her generals decided to step up uranium enrichment to weapons grade levels, effectively going back on assurances previously given to the US and other members of the international community.

It was US ambassador to Pakistan Robin Oakley who personally told Benazir, the serving Prime Minister of Pakistan how American satellites had picked up information about the new levels of enrichment by monitoring the speed at which the enrichment plant at Kahuta was working.

In Benazir’s own words “The satellites could pick up the speed at which the enrichment plant was working…with these revolutions… because at 60 per cent you beat at a certain level and at 90 per cent you beat at another level. If Benazir was kept out of nuclear decision making, it was much the same for Nawaz Sharif. It can assumed to be the same when it comes to Imran.