By B. Muralidhar Reddy
ISLAMABAD, OCT. 16 The Pakistan Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez
Musharraf, has ruled out the possibility of nuclear weapons in
his country falling into the hands of religious fanatics and
asserted that they are ``extremely secure''.
Talking to the American television network, CBS, he has sought to
dispel the impression that the generals who seized power in
October last are beholden to Islamic radicals and that militant
fundamentalists could end up controlling the nuclear weapons.
In the same programme, the outgoing commander of the U.S. forces
in South Asia, Gen. Anthony Zinni, has been quoted as saying it
is very possible that the nuclear weapons will wind up in the
hands of extremist religious groups.
Mr. John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists has told
the network that Pakistan's nuclear programme is bigger than what
Washington has publicly acknowledged. He estimates that it has 25
to 35 nuclear bombs.
``There is no other country where 1,00,000 well-armed militant
fundamentalists could end up controlling nuclear weapons - what
some people might call the Islamic bomb'', the programme said.
In another development, Dr. Qadeer Khan, architect of the nuclear
programme, has said Pakistanis may differ on the military
regime's performance, but few would contest the speed with which
it moved to put in place security systems around the nuclear and
missile arsenal.
Dr. Khan commenting on the one-year military rule, has said
``Gen. Musharraf was cognisant of the international community's
apprehensions about nuclear weapons.