India And Pakistan Now Want To Arm Their Navy With Nuclear Weapons

Tom Hundley, VOX: India and Pakistan are quietly making nuclear war more like

Both countries are arming their submarines with nukes.

KARACHI, Pakistan — The Karachi Naval Dockyard, home port and strategic nerve center for Pakistan’s fleet, sits on a sliver of land bracketed between Port Grand, a “family fun” pier that features kiddie rides and a panoramic view of warships at anchor, and Machar Colony, a sprawling slum where cattle graze on garbage and a million human inhabitants live in nearly unimaginable squalor.

It was here, during the quiet predawn of May 6, 2014, that four rogue naval officers walked up the gangway of the PNS Zulfiqar, a 4,000-ton frigate that was preparing to put to sea. A guard inspected their ID badges and saluted. Once on board, their plan was to join up with another group of six militants disguised in marine uniforms who were approaching the Zulfiqar in an inflatable dinghy. Together they hoped to hijack the ship and use it to attack a US Navy patrol in the Indian Ocean.

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WNU Editor: What can one say .... nuclear proliferation in one of the world's danger spots.

Recently Released CIA Documents Claim China Did Not Only Give A Nuclear Weapon Design To Pakistan, But Also Gave Them Enriched Uranium

Indrani Bagchi, Times of India/TNN: CIA Papers Reveal China's Nuclear Free Pass to Pakistan

* Recently declassified CIA files testify to the depth of the Pak-China military relationship built over decades
* US suspected that China gave Pakistan the design of N-bomb and enriched uranium
* US notes that China did not ask Pak to open its nuclear installations to IAEA inspections

NEW DELHI: Recently declassified CIA files+ testify to the depth of the Pakistan-China military relationship built over decades and also highlights how Beijing was willing to risk its own nuclear cooperation with US to boost the nuclear ambitions of 'all weather friend' Pakistan.

In the files, the US notes that China did not ask Pakistan to open its nuclear installations to IAEA inspections, after inking a nuclear agreement with the latter. The text of the agreement is pretty anodyne, focusing on non-military nuclear technology, radio-isotopes, medical research and civilian power technology. By this, the US notes, China wanted to develop a nuclear export market in Pakistan in "nonsensitive" areas. This would "reassure" countries like US which were apprehensive about Pakistan's nuclear designs.

"We cannot rule out the possibility that China may feel it will be easier to cooperate clandestinely with Pakistan behind the smokescreen of IAEA-safe guarded cooperation activity in non-sensitive areas."

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WNU Editor: If this is true .... one has to then wonder if China helped North Korea in developing its atomic bomb.

Is Pakistan Building A New Uranium Enrichment Facility

File photo of a nuclear missile at a Pakistan military parade. (AFP)

IHS Jane's 360: Satellite imagery suggests Pakistan building uranium enrichment facility

Airbus Defence and Space imagery captured on 28 September 2015 and on 18 April 2016 shows new construction at Pakistan's Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) site in Kahuta that is consistent with that of a uranium enrichment facility.

The area is approximately 1.2 ha in size and is located within the secure area of the KRL in the southwestern part of the complex, which is situated in Pakistan's northeastern Punjab Province.

Roughly rectangular in shape and approximately 140 x 80 m, the new structure is surrounded by scrubland and trees that provide an additional measure of security on the ground.

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More News On Reports That Pakistan Is Building A New Uranium Enrichment Facility

Pakistan may be building new nuclear site, say analysts -- AFP
Pakistan constructing new nuclear reprocessing site -- The Hindu
Satellite Imagery Detects Pakistan Building New Uranium Enrichment Facility -- Defense World

Pakistan Nightmare: A Growing Nuclear Arsenal And A Growing Threat From Terror Groups

File photo of nuclear-capable missiles on a mobile launcher during a Pakistan Day military parade in Islamabad. Daily Times

New York Times editorial: The Pakistan Nuclear Nightmare

With as many as 120 warheads, Pakistan could in a decade become the world’s third-ranked nuclear power, behind the United States and Russia, but ahead of China, France and Britain. Its arsenal is growing faster than any other country’s, and it has become even more lethal in recent years with the addition of small tactical nuclear weapons that can hit India and longer-range nuclear missiles that can reach farther.

These are unsettling truths. The fact that Pakistan is also home to a slew of extremist groups, some of which are backed by a paranoid security establishment obsessed with India, only adds to the dangers it presents for South Asia and, indeed, the entire world.

Persuading Pakistan to rein in its nuclear weapons program should be an international priority. The major world powers spent two years negotiating an agreement to restrain the nuclear ambitions of Iran, which doesn’t have a single nuclear weapon. Yet there has been no comparable investment of effort in Pakistan, which, along with India, has so far refused to consider any limits at all.

NNU Editor: Unfortunately .... I have no reason to believe that Pakistan .... after all of these years .... is going to change its nuclear policy to appease its critics.

New Evidence Reveals Pakistan Efforts To Proliferate Nuke Tech

A.Q. Khan, right, poses for a photo with Simon Henderson, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The photo was provided exclusively to Fox News.

EXCLUSIVE: New A.Q. Khan Documents Suggest Pakistan Spread Nuclear Weapon Technology -- FOX News

Documents obtained by Fox News suggest that for decades Pakistan spread nuclear weapon technology around the globe in exchange for cash, political influence and help with its own atomic bomb program. Among those on the other side of the deals: China, Iran, North Korea and Libya.

The charges are contained in two documents written by A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani nuclear arms trafficker long thought to be the mastermind behind an elaborate global supply and procurement network: a thirteen-page confession to government authorities and a dramatic letter hastily written to his wife as an international manhunt tightened around him.

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Update: ‘Pakistan cashed in on N-technology’ -- Pakistan Today

My Comment: What other secrets is A.Q. Khan not telling us? .... makes you wonder.

Pakistan's Rush To Finish A Weapons-Grade Nuclear Reactor Caught By Satellite Images

Alarming: The rate of construction at the Khushab nuclear facility has 'raised eyebrows' with US officials

Satellite Images Reveal Alarming Speed Pakistan Is Rushing To Finish Weapons-Grade Nuclear Reactor -- Daily Mail

New satellite images have shown the alarming speed at which Pakistan is constructing a weapons-grade nuclear reactor.

The aerial images, taken on April 20, show the rapid building progress of the fourth reactor to produce plutonium in Pakistan's Khushab facility.

The site was barren in 2009 and the facility 'costing billions' was undetectable by satellite just 17 months ago, but has since grown at an alarming rate.

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My Comment: Why the rush?

Pakistan Believes They Can Sell Nuclear Security To The World

Pakistan is ready to share with nations its competence in the area of nuclear security, particularly prevention, detection and response to illicit trafficking, said the paper Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani presented at one of the sessions at the Washington summit earlier this week. Photo by Reuters

Pakistan Also Offers Nuclear Security Skills To World -- Dawn

WASHINGTON: In a policy paper presented to leaders from nearly 50 nations, Pakistan offered to share with other states its nuclear security skills, particularly in prevention, detection and response to illicit trafficking.

In a similar document, presented at the Washington nuclear security summit, which ended on Tuesday, Pakistan declared that it had acquired advanced nuclear fuel cycle capability and can offer it to the rest of the world under IAEA safeguards.

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My Comment: They do have the experience and know how .... especially since they are surrounded by Al Qaeda, Taliban, Islamic extremists, and a whole host of other groups that want to have a Pak nuke or two.

Pakistan Admits That U.S. Aid Was Used To Build Nuclear Weapons

Mr Musharraf says he acted in the best interest of Pakistan.
Photo form The BBC

Musharraf Admits US Aid Diverted To Nuke Program -- The Long War Journal

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has admitted to what many of us have known for some time: Pakistan has diverted US aid - money that was intended to be used to fight al Qaeda and the Taliban - to programs designed to strengthen the military against India. From The Times of India:

Musharraf admitted that he had violated rules governing the use of the military aid, and justified his actions by saying he had "acted in the best interest of Pakistan."

In an interview with a news channel, he said he "did not care" whether the US would be angered by his disclosure.

The former military ruler, who resigned as President in August last year to avoid impeachment, said he was not ready to compromise on Pakistan's interests.

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More News On Pakistan's Admission Of Using U.S. Aid Money To Target India And Support Its Nuclear Program

Musharraf admits US aid diverted -- BBC
Musharraf confirms India's fear on US aid to Pak: Tharoor -- Indian Express
US funds were diverted to strengthen defence against India: Musharraf -- Times of India
Musharraf costs UK £25,000 a day -- Daily Times

My Comment: The key quote from Musharraf is the following ....

.... In an interview with a news channel, he said he "did not care" whether the US would be angered by his disclosure ....

With allies like this, who needs enemies.

Taliban/Al Qaeda Has Attacked Pakistan's Nuclear Facilities 3 Times In 2 Years

Pakistan's Sargodha Nuclear Facility (Image from Bharat Rakshak)

Jihadis Thrice Attacked Pakistan Nuclear Sites -- Times Of India

WASHINGTON: Pakistan's nuclear facilities have already been attacked at least thrice by its home-grown extremists and terrorists in little reported incidents over the last two years, even as the world remains divided over the safety and security of the nuclear weapons in the troubled country, according to western analysts.

The incidents, tracked by Shaun Gregory, a professor at Bradford University in UK, include an attack on the nuclear missile storage facility at Sargodha on November 1, 2007, an attack on Pakistan's nuclear airbase at Kamra by a suicide bomber on December 10, 2007, and perhaps most significantly the August 20, 2008 attack when Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew up several entry points to one of the armament complexes at the Wah cantonment, considered one of Pakistan's main nuclear weapons assembly.

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Update #1: Report: Pakistan Nuclear Facilities Attacked at Least Three Times by Terrorists -- FOX News

My Comment: The only reports of these attacks is coming from the Indian media and FOX News (which only quotes the Times of India story).

I am sure that there will be more coverage in the next few hours, and we will update this story as news reports come in.

My personal take .... I am not surprised. These Pakistani military installations have always been prime targets for Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists. My biggest concern has never been on a frontal attack on these installations .... my fears have always been on the sympathizers within these installations who may be conducting themselves to assist these terror groups to get their hands on nuclear materials.

Photos Show Pakistan Expanding Nuclear Sites: Institute

Image: This 2007 handout from the Associated Press of Pakistan (APA), shows a Pakistani long range nuclear-capable Hatf VII Babur cruise missile is fired during a test. Satellite photos released on Tuesday show Pakistan has expanded two sites crucial to its nuclear program as part of an effort to bolster the destructive power of its atomic arsenal, a US arms control institute said. (AFP/APA-HO/File)

From Yahoo News/AFP:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Satellite photos released on Tuesday show Pakistan has expanded two sites crucial to its nuclear program as part of an effort to bolster the destructive power of its atomic arsenal, a US arms control institute said.

The commercial images reveal a major expansion of a chemical plant complex near Dera Ghazi Kahn that produces uranium hexalfuoride and uranium metal, materials used to produce nuclear weapons, said analysts at the Institute for Science and International Security.

At a site near Rawalpindi, photos suggest the Pakistanis "have added a second plutonium separation plant adjacent to the old one," the ISIS report said.

Pakistan in recent years also has been building two new plutonium production reactors, it said.

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My Comment: If true .... this is a smoking gun. One of our most important allies has been caught lying about their nuclear program. Worse .... instead of using their limited funds to help what is a deteriorating situation in their country, they have made the decision to expand and increase their production of WMDs.

Something is terribly wrong with this picture.

Pakistan Nuclear Projects Raise US Fears

Click The Image To Enlarge
Image from Global Security

From The Guardian:

• Two reactors nearing completion at Khushab
• Report questions security of nuclear material

Pakistan is continuing to expand its nuclear bomb-making facilities despite growing international concern that advancing Islamist extremists could overrun one or more of its atomic weapons plants or seize sufficient radioactive material to make a dirty bomb, US nuclear experts and former officials say.

David Albright, previously a senior weapons inspector for the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency in Iraq, said commercial satellite photos showed two plutonium-producing reactors were nearing completion at Khushab, about 160 miles south-west of the capital, Islamabad.

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My Comment: These fears are completely justified. Theft of enough nuclear material to produce a dirty bomb would have profound geopolitical consequences that would be unprecedented in its outcry and reaction. The U.S. understands this .... but Pakistan is going down a different road .... hence the concern.

Russia Considers Pakistan Its Principal Nuclear Threat: Expert

From Press Trust India:

Washington, Apr 11 (PTI) Describing Pakistan as the "principal" nuclear threat to Russia, an eminent foreign policy and security expert has claimed that Moscow would support any US endeavour to take away Islamabad's atomic weapons in case of any destabilisation in the Islamic nation.

"Russian authorities for many years have been indicating that Pakistan was a much more serious problem, both for nuclear proliferation and for nuclear terrorism, than Iran," Alexei Arbatov, Chairman of the Non-Proliferation Programme of Carnegie Moscow Centre, said at a recent seminar here.

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My Comment: The Russians have good reasons to be concerned. Pakistan is not only imploding, but the ones who will have control of its nuclear stockpile have close ties to the same Islamic extremists that Russia is fighting against in the Caucasus and other predominantly Muslim regions of its country.

Russia is not the only country that should be concerned .... India is naturally worried, but it is us in the West who should be the ones who are really worried.

US Sanctions Those Tied To Pakistani Scientist

Abdul Qadeer Khan

From International Herald Tribune:

WASHINGTON: The United States on Monday slapped sanctions on people and companies connected to the black market nuclear network led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

U.S. officials called the sanctions "a warning to other would-be proliferators" and urged the world to "remain vigilant" to make sure Khan's associates are stopped from leaking sensitive nuclear information or equipment in the future.

The State and Treasury Departments said the United States had placed sanctions on 13 people and three private companies for their involvement in Khan's network, which leaked atomic secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

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