By Manish Chand, IANS,
Addis Ababa: In the wake of the audacious terror attack on a naval base in Karachi, one of Pakistan’s most secure military facilities, India Monday voiced apprehensions about the safety of nuclear installations in the neighbouring country and pointed to the deepening divide there over the Afghan war.
“We are concerned with the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear installations,” senior officials, travelling with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Ethiopia, said here.
“The real risk is internal – who guards the guardians,” the Indian officials asked while alluding to the Pakistani military establishment which controls Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
“They seem to have embarked on a huge nuclear programme. They are building research reactors at Khusab,” the officials said when asked about recent reports about Pakistan’s ambitious plans to upgrade its nuclear weapons. According to western estimates, Pakistan is believed to have about 100 nuclear warheads.
“If anybody attacks us, there will be assured and massive retaliation. This is the meaning of credible deterrence,” the officials added, while assuring on India’s quantum of credible deterrence and New Delhi’s nuclear doctrine that abjures the first use of nuclear weapons.
Manmohan Singh is here to attend the Africa-India summit Tuesday-Wednesday. Officials believe that the attack on the PNS Mehran naval base was the handiwork of those opposing the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and underscored the internal divide in Pakistan over the Afghan war, a situation fraught with danger for New Delhi’s security.
“It was a very organised assault on Pakistan’s security forces. It’s part of the Taliban war against those who are associated in Pakistan with the battle against the Afghan Taliban,” the officials said.
“They are attacking that part of the security machine in Pakistan which has been associated with the war in Afghanistan,” they said.
The Karachi attack, sources feel, is a reminder to India about the ever-present threat to its security from forces inimical to India’s interests in the neighbouring country. The attack, coming as it did three weeks after the May 2 killing of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden by the US forces in Abbotabad, has led to Indian officials reviewing the security situation.
Sources stressed that India has ramped up coastal security and scaled up maritime policing following the 26/11 attack. The Karachi assault has further reinforced the need to beef up coastal security, the sources said.
Alluding to the precarious security situation in Afghanistan, Indian officials said New Delhi was alert to the possibility of terror attacks targeting its facilities in Afghanistan. “We have always been under threat. The primary threat comes from those who attacked us in Kabul,” the sources said.
Manmohan Singh visited Afghanistan May 12 where he announced another $500 million assistance for the violence-ravaged country and underlined New Delhi’s unflinching resolve to continue with its activities.
In New Delhi, Home Minister P. Chidambaram underlined that the attack on the Karachi base that began late Sunday and lasted for 15 hours killing 16 people, has highlighted the fact that India lives in a troubled neighbourhood.
“I have described our neighbourhood as a troubled neighbourhood. This incident once against points to that conclusion that our neighbourhood is a troubled neighbourhood,” he said at a press conference when asked to comment on the attack in Pakistan. “We have to remain constantly on vigil and we remain vigilant round the clock,” he said.
Chidambaram added that India was “not happy” about the Karachi incident. “In fact, we are sad that lives are lost. But that is today a troubled state.”