ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Pak may trade N-tests for arms: Gohar Ayub

Pakistan's foreign minister Gohar Ayub Khan has indicated that Pakistan may decide not to go in for a nuclear test if it is given weapons that would restore its confidence.

Khan, who has repeatedly said the Pakistani nuclear blast was close to reality, was replying to a question put to him by a BBC correspondent in Karachi on Friday night.

He, however, did not respond to another question, whether Pakistan would still conduct a nuclear test in the event it was offered nuclear protection by the big powers. Instead, he reiterated that if Pakistan was given such weapons as would restore its earlier position and if these weapons were in the hands of the Pakistani army and not merely on paper (an obvious reference to the yet undelivered F-16s), the country could review its stand on conducting a nuclear test.

Khan was in Karachi to meet Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto to seek her co-operation to resolve the government's present dilemma.

Bhutto is understood to have assured him of her support, but made it clear that it was only ''waqti'' (for the time being).

She has already demanded the government's resignation for not ''replying'' to India's nuclear test. On the other hand, the government side describes her as ''a security risk.''

Khan told the BBC that he has good relations with Bhutto, which is how he managed to win her support. He has been given the job of mobilising Pakistani support for the government's stand on nuclear testing.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief said he would decide on the tests only after a national consensus on the issue. He is quoted by Urdu daily Jang as saying in Lahore a few days ago that Pakistan has better nuclear capability than India, and that contacts with experts and intellectuals have begun in a bid to evolve a Pakistani reply to the Indian blasts.

Jang quoted an old report of American researchers which reportedly said Pakistan has the capability to produce 30 to 40 atom bombs.

Tell us what you think of this report