CSIS-MEI event (Part I)
'US turned a blind eye to Pakistan’s nuclear program'

By Rana Fawad

WASHINGTON: Two British journalists have claimed in their book that the US on many occasions turned a blind eye to let Pakistan build its nuclear program and this approach ultimately led to the attempts to proliferate nuclear technology to Libya, Iran, and North Korea by A Q Khan network. (Please click on CSIS PRESS CENTER for the audio of Adrian's presentation).

Authors of ‘The Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons,’ Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark, were addressing a gathering about this book at an event jointly arranged by the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Middle East Institute last week (Friday, November 9).

Co-director PCR Frederick D Barton moderated the proceedings whereas President CSIS John Hamre, President MEI Wendy J Chamberlin, MEI Scholar Marvin Weinbaum, Co-director PCR Karin von Hippel, Director of CSIS International Program Stephen Flangan, former Ambassador to Pakistan Robert B Oakley, former officials, students, members of Pakistani-American as well as Indian-American community were also present on the occasion.

During Q&A seession, an aduience member Larry Robinson (he was Political Counselor at US Embassy in Islamabad during A Q Khan controversy) urged the audience to keep their minds open instead of going for only one narrative when two narratives are available about relatively few known facts. Referring to the charge made by the authors that Khan was not asked all the questions promised by the government, he said according to his knowledge Khan was questioned intensively and the US got answers to all questions it provided to the Musharraf government.

He mentioned that he (Dr Khan) was interviewed at great length by two generals, Ishan ul Haq (the head of ISI) and Khalid Kidwai (the head of the nuclear program). “They spent many many hours with him and told me and told many others that the man was one of the most accomplished liars they had ever seen in their life and it was impossible to get him to admit to anything unless presented with incontrovertible evidence at which point he completely switched his point of view and became equally convincing in his story,” he said.

As for the authors’ objection that the US was not granted access to A Q Khan for questioning, Larry Robinson said, “I don’t remember the US granting Britain access to Rosenberg. I don’t remember any country that has had a nuclear spy working for somebody else ever granting access to any third country.”

He said in case the US was given access to Khan, “The first thing he was going to do was to say that he had full authorization all the way, whether or not that was true.” He added that the second thing Khan would have talked about was Pakistan’s covert import program of which Khan was a very essential part.

He said that the covert import program exists to this day for the very good reason “that even if they didn’t have nuclear weapons at all, we won’t let Pakistan import even essential safety equipment for their safeguarded nuclear power plants that got to have a covert import program.”

As for Khan’s wealth, he said everybody in Islamabad knew he was rich “but everybody in Islamabad figured that he was getting rich the way everybody else in Islamabad officialdom does – by creaming off a percentage of all the imported stuff.”

Responding to Catherine Scott-Clark’s query why is that no one can clearly answer what exactly Pakistan provided N Korea or how far the negotiations went with Syria or Saudi Arabia or surely there are people in Islamabad who could help to get to the bottom of what actually Iran has, Larry said, “I don’t know how many people really knew how much,” and added by suggesting a parallel of A Q Khan, “I don’t think Hyman Rickover’s [known as the father of Nuclear Navy] brief case was ever examined careflly when he left the Navy nuclear programs.”

“Rickover could have done everything what A Q Khan did. He had exactly the same type of authority. He was in charge of his own authority. He was his own boss because he was the head of the Navy program for the Atomic Energy Commission,” Larry mentioned.

Responding to the authors’ claim that General Zia had commissioned the then ISI chief Hamid Gul and Vice Chief of Army General Aslam Beg to look into the army’s direction beyond Afghtan-Soviet war, Robert Oakley (former US Ambassador to Pakistan) made a factual comment and said, “Hamid Gul became head of ISI only after Zia died. At that point his influence and his wacky ideas began to grow.” He said up until that time Zia and General Rehman [Akhtar Abdur Rehman] had kept the nuclear program under control.

He also said that book seemed to assume the US intelligence was omniscient and infallible, "I think we've seen time and time again not just in Iraq that this is wrong."
Continued.

HRW opposes amendments to the Army Act

WASHINGTON: The Human Right Watch has urged the Pakistani government to withdraw amendments to the Army Act “which give wide-ranging powers to the military, including the power to arrest, detain and try any civilian.”

According to a press release issued on Wednesday, “Under the amendment to the 1952 Army Act, the military can now try civilians for a wide range of offenses previously under the purview of the country’s judiciary. These include offenses punishable under: the Explosive Substances Act, 1908; Prejudicial conduct under the Security of Pakistan Act, 1952; the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965; the Prevention of Anti-National Activities Act, 1974; the Anti-terrorism Act, 1997; and several sections of the Pakistan Penal Code. For example, civilians can be tried in military courts for acts of treason, sedition and less specific offenses such as “giving statements conducive to public mischief.”

Moreover, trials of civilians conducted by special military courts under the amended law will not be public, investigations will be conducted by military officers, and rules of evidence and procedures laid out for constitutional trials will not apply.

The amendment will take effect retrospectively from January 2003, in effect sanctioning impunity of the army for detaining and “disappearing” people.

Pakistan police charge Imran Khan: BBC
Pakistani police charge Imran Khan under anti-terrorism laws after his first appearance under the emergency.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/7095596.stm >

In Interview, Musharraf Defends Rule by Decree
November 14, 2007 In Interview, Musharraf Defends Rule by Decree By CARLOTTA GALL, DAVID ROHDE and JANE PERLEZ
“The emergency is to ensure elections go in an undisturbed manner,” Gen. Pervez Musharraf said today in an interview with The New York Times.

Viewpoint: Media freedom dented
A Spanish court has chipped away at the fragile pillar of media freedom in Europe, writes William Horsley of BBC
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7092413.stm >

New York Times / November 12, 2007
Musharraf Sets No Date to End Emergency Rule By DAVID ROHDE and JANE PERLEZ Gen. Pervez Musharraf said that emergency rule in Pakistan would last through elections in early January, raising new questions about the vote’s legitimacy.

Emergency in Pakistan, protests in Washington

WASHINGTON: Members of the Pakistani-American community opposed to the imposition of emergency and suspension of the Constitution by President General Pervez Musharraf will stage a protest outside the White House on November 9 (Friday) afternoon.

Another such event will take place outside the Pakistani embassy here in the US capital on November 11 (Sunday) afternoon. This protest is being organized by the Pakistani students and civil rights activists.
(Rana Fawad)

HRW letter urges Bush to suspend Pakistan's non-humanitarian aid

WASHINGTON: In a letter to US President George W Bush on Thursday, the Human Rights Watch has urged the US government to suspend all non-humanitarian assistance to Pakistan immediately in response to General Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the Pakistani constitution and declaration of emergency rule on November 3.

The HRW has advocated that the aid should remain suspended until the Pakistani government returns to constitutional rule, reinstates dismissed judges and respects the decisions of the courts, releases all those arbitrarily detained, and restores full media freedoms. The letter adds President Bush should impose a travel ban on senior Pakistani military and government officials until the above steps are taken.

Director of the HRW Asia chapter, Brad Adams, said, “Unless President Musharraf reverses course now, the elections he has announced for February 2008 will not be free or fair.”

To view the Human Rights Watch letter to President Bush, please visit:
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/11/08/pakist17295.htm

Only lawyers, not people, are against emergency: Kasuri

By Rana Fawad

WASHINGTON: Only Pakistani lawyers are protesting against the emergency declaration because they have their own axe to grind otherwise the people and political parties do not support them and are interested in the country’s security which is the main cause of this declaration.

This was stated by a senior member of President General Musharraf’s legal team and Supreme Court lawyer, Ahmed Raza Kasuri, while replying to questions at the Middle East Institute’s event ‘Political and Constitutional Developments in Pakistan’ this morning in the MEI’s Boardman Room.

Former US ambassador to Pakistan and President MEI, Wendy J. Chamberlin, Vice President MEI, David L. Mack, MEI staff, members of the US and Pakistani media, students, and human rights activists were also present on the occasion.

Responding to a question, Ahmed Raza Kasuri said the lawyers were protesting as stakeholders of the emergency decision because they were receiving relief lavishly under the judicial activism as the courts released many terrorists. He added that the judicial activism without judicial restraint was not good for the country. He claimed that no political party is protesting the emergency declaration.

Replying to another query, he denied the allegation that the judges were being detained and questioned how come they were talking to the international media if there were strict restrictions on them. To a question about the arrests of the civil society members, Kasuri commented that they were not under arrest but they were being held under protective custody.
Kasuri argued for the emergency declaration and said that special circumstances demanded special steps. Referring to the US situation in the wake of 9/11 tragedy, he commented that if the US democratic set up with a history of 220 years behind it could give wide-ranging powers to the executive branch, democracy in Pakistan is still in the process of getting stronger.

Explicating his view on judicial activism in Pakistan, the senior advocate opined that all three branches of the government should play their role within the prescribed bounds of the Constitution and refrain from stepping out of their limits. When he was asked, does this imply Prevez Musharraf stepped out of his limits and violated his oath as Chief of Army Staff on October 12 1999 when he removed an elected government, he replied that a military coup was never a positive development but those were extraordinary circumstances because of malpractices and height of corruption in the country.

He also commented that Pakistan was a unique democracy where elected rulers behave like dictators and military dictators act like democratic leaders. Referring to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Libyan leader Qaddafi, Kasuri argued that unlike those dictatorships Pakistan was a democratic country where military rules had not lasted more than 10 years.

Responding to a question about the status of elections in Pakistan, he replied that the country was facing a growing threat of terrorism and terrorists freely move across Pak-Afghan border. He added that human missiles [suicide bombers] had spread to every nook and corner of the country, therefore, the situation needed to be stabilized first.

Arguing for the emergency declaration, Kasuri dispelled the notion that it was a preemptive ‘strike’ by President General Pervez Musharraf against the judiciary. He said Musharraf’s legal position is secure as envisaged in the 17th Amendment of the Constitution and had no such problem. He added that the country’s security was the only reason Musharraf took this decision and added that extremism and terrorism were posing serious challenges to the national security.

When asked did he have any remorse for his support to two military rulers (General Zia and General Musharraf), Kasuri said he came from a notable family not from streets and always preferred the country’s best interest.

He told the audience that his family’s contribution to Pakistan’s democracy was an established fact and added that his role in framing the country’s constitution was similar to that of Thomas Jefferson’s role in the US Constitution making.

Kasuri said he was the only member who went to Dhaka to attend the assembly’s session in 1971 despite Zulfiqar Bhutto’s (the then leader of the Pakistan People’s Party) warning that he would not tolerate it.

Recalling his 1971 experience, he commented that elections could also turn out to be very divisive and said a part of Pakistan was truncated from it due to those elections.
Responding to a question about General Musharraf’s two offices, he said he would quit as army chief as soon as he takes oath as president as a result of the recent presidential elections in which he secured 57 per cent vote of the electoral college comprising all four provincial assemblies, National Assembly and Senate.

Earlier, Vice President MEI, David L. Mack introduced Ahmed Raza Kasuri to the audience and explained that the purpose of such events is to hear different views from various people. He clarified that Benazir Bhutto’s event at the MEI should not give an impression that this organization was taking sides and added that in the past a variety of other Pakistani leaders including Qazi Hussein Ahmed were also invited to express their views.

Pakistan's fired chief justice calls for uprising
By Laura King
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 6 2007, 8:24 AM PST
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The fired chief justice of Pakistan issued a ringing call to compatriots today to resist the government's 4-day-old declaration of emergency rule.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan7nov07,1,277464.story?coll=la-headlines-world

On Monday, President Bush urged General Musharraf to hold elections and give up his army post, though he gave little indication of any real change in American policy, which has bankrolled Pakistan’s military with $10 billion in aid since 2001 (The New York Times)

News Analysis: A Detour From a Battle Against Terror By DAVID ROHDE While Gen. Pervez Musharraf justified his emergency rule decree as helping him combat terrorism, it could end up weakening his ability and generating instability.

Emergency declaration in Pakistan: The final decision came only after a Supreme Court judge quietly informed the government last week that the court would rule against Musharraf's effort to stay on as president, reports The Washing Post
Pakistan Moves Against Opposition
By Griff Witte
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 4 -- Pakistan's government on Sunday executed a nationwide crackdown on the political opposition, the news media and the courts, one day after President Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule and suspended the constitution.

Emergency declaration by Musharraf

As Crisis Deepens, White House Endures Diminished Power to Influence Events
By Glenn Kessler
In August, a 2 a.m. phone call from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice helped pull Gen. Pervez Musharraf from the brink of declaring a state of emergency in Pakistan. Two days ago, Rice made a similar plea. This time, the Pakistani president was not swayed. (The Washington Post)

NYTimes.com: Officials See Few Options for U.S.

Emergency declared by President General Musharraf: NYT reports the White House response INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC November 4, 2007 News Analysis: Officials See Few Options for U.S. By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG and HELENE COOPER The White House is said to be in wait-and-see mode.

Largest order of low cost PCs for Pakistani university

Washington: Pakistan's order of classmate laptop computers for Allama Iqbal Open University is so far the largest Intel is working on. Quoting Reuters, the BetaNews, reported that Intel and Microsoft have shipped 150,000 low cost computers to Libya as well while Nigeria will order the same computers in the future.
According to the BetaNews, "The Classmate PC is capable of running either the Windows or Linux operating systems. It includes a 900MHz processor, 256MB of RAM, 1GB of NAND flash storage, a touchpad, and optional digital pen for taking notes" while each device costs about $200.
(Rana Fawad)