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"Pakistanis Know I Can Be Tough"

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf talks about fair elections, Benazir Bhutto's assassination and security in the region.

In the News

January 15, 2008

Author: Fareed Zakaria, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1988-1991

In an interview with Newsweek.com, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf responds directly to Belfer Center Director Graham Allison's recent op-ed about Pakistan's nuclear security.

From the interview:

Newsweek: Graham Allison of Harvard says that these weapons must be disbursed [sic] for them to have survivability, which means that they could also fall into the wrong hands, because there might be a local command structure that is weak.

Pervez Musharraf: He doesn't know anything—how disbursed [sic] they are, and he shouldn't think that we don't know these things. We are from the military, we understand how to handle things, whether they need to be disbursed [sic] or concentrated.

But you understand that due to past episodes there is concern.

Yes, the past has [caused] some concern, but we must understand the difference between past and now. Before we were a declared and overt nuclear state, we had to hide everything. Everything was covert. Only the scientists and the president of Pakistan knew what was going on. Now there is a national command authority. It is the top body, headed by the president and the prime minister, and there are members from the military and the civilian side. And there's a huge strategic planning division, a full secretariat headed by now-retired [Lt. General Khalid] Kidwai. He is in charge of this Strategic Planning Division that is the secretarial arm of the National Command, responsible for development and employment. Then we have army, navy, air force, the strategic force command. If anything happens, indeed it's a failure of everyone from myself to SPD to the Army Strategic Force Command.

But it would need the collusion of several people, up and down the chain.

Absolutely. It's like an army unit. Can one rifle be taken away from an army unit? Can the bullet of a rifle be taken away from an army unit? I challenge anyone to take a bullet, a weapon, away from an army unit.

Read the rest of the interview at Newsweek.com: http://www.newsweek.com/id/91693

For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.

Full text of this publication is available at:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/91693

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