The Hindu : Front Page : Benazir was a courier in illegal nuclear arms trade, says book

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Sunday, May 11, 2008
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Benazir was a courier in illegal nuclear arms trade, says book

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Benazir Bhutto once played an active role in furthering Pakistan’s clandestine nuclear programme by personally taking CDs to and from North Korea on an official trip as Prime Minister, reveals a book by her Oxford college mate and journalist Shyam Bhatia who subsequently kept in regular touch with her.

It was in the 90’s that North Korea offered to provide long range missiles to Pakistan to offset the imbalance with India’s integrated guided missile development programme then led by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

‘Pakistan was under spotlight’

Writing in “Goodbye Shehzadi” (princess), Mr. Bhatia says by 1993, Pakistan was under the spotlight as never before [on bartering enrichment technology for missiles], with Russia, India and western secret services monitoring every nuance of Pakistan’s military research.

“This was where Benazir came in useful. As she was due to visit North Korea at the end of 1993, she was asked and readily agreed to carry critical nuclear data on her person and hand it over on arrival in Pyongyang…..The gist of what she told me was that before leaving Islamabad she shopped for an overcoat with the deepest possible pockets into which she transferred CDs containing the scientific data about uranium which the North Korean wanted.

“Pakistani contacts later explained that Benazir returned with more than just CDs. The delighted North Koreans who had already sold missiles technology to Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen insisted she carry back the disassembled parts of an entire missile so that Pakistani scientists could study it part by part.”

The narration about Benazir being an active courier in the clandestine trade for nuclear technology was during an evening together and not reported by Mr. Bhatia till her (Benazir) assassination. Benazir was never to repeat that conversation whenever tape recorders were in sight and always insisted during on-record interviews that the North Korean missile was acquired in a cash deal and unaccompanied by a quid pro quo in the form of transfer of technology.

Shortly before her death, Benazir was to claim that she finished off militancy in Indian Punjab by choking off assistance to militant Sikhs by then President Zia-ul-Haq. Benazir’s Sikh connection was revealed in December 2007 when National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan questioned her track record. She accused then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of breaking his word by not reciprocating with the withdrawal of the army from the Siachen Glacier.

While Benazir was instantly forthcoming on checking militant activity from Pakistan directed at Indian Punjab, she was totally supportive of the Generals’ game plan of duplicating the strategy in Jammu & Kashmir. But years later, in another interaction with Mr. Bhatia, Benazir had mellowed. From a 35-year-old Prime Minister who spoke stridently of jihadi, she had a different take 15 years later and in exile – “if India and Pakistan cannot progress on the territorial issue, they can work on the social unity of Kashmir by working for safe and open borders.”

Although Benazir for years claimed that Taliban were creatures of the ISI over whom she had no control, her later years saw a change in stand. “A few weeks before she died, Benazir finally took some responsibility for the Taliban saying “we all thought the Taliban would be a factor for peace and we were wrong.”

Why did Benazir make these misjudgments? The book attempts an explanation: ``[They] need to be seen in the context of a beleaguered prime minister fighting for her life against the entrenched forces of right wing military establishment and its allies. Small wonder then that Benazir was unable to pass a single major piece of legislation during her first 20 months in office. She had other more important issues to deal with closer to home, and survival was at the top of her list.”

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