February 05, 2004

Musharraf will talk to IAEA, but he rejects inspections

President Pervaiz Musharraf yesterday ruled out any outside inspections of Pakistan's nuclear technology, while leaving open the possibility that the scientist behind illegal exports could be questioned by international investigators.

In an apparently contradictory statement, Gen Musharraf seemed intent on calming domestic fears that the West would infringe Pakistan's sovereignty in its search for culprits while assuring an international audience that there would be a full investigation.

"This is a sovereign country. No document will be given. No independent investigation will take place," he said, making clear that there was nothing left to discuss.
[Or so Perv thinks! This ain't over by half!--Jen]

"There is a written mercy appeal from his [the scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan] side and there is a written pardon from my side. A rollback of Pakistan's nuclear programme will never happen."

However, Gen Musharraf added that the International Atomic Energy Agency was welcome to come and discuss the issue. "We are open and we will tell them everything."
[...]
Lee Feinstein, a former US non-proliferation specialist, said: "Even though Musharraf is not accepting official Pakistani government responsibility, it's still a big deal to 'out' Khan and his dealings with the Iranians and Libyans."

The Pakistani leader had "staked his reputation on closing down the nuclear transfers from Pakistan and that's huge progress".

This refusal to let in IAEA inspectors is a rare, but big misstep for Musharraf.
Let's hope he comes around on inspectors while being seemingly open to almost all other kinds of cooperation with the West on his nukes.
However, I don't like the belligerent declaration that Pakistan's nuke program will never be rolled back.
Pakistan supposedly got nukes to counter India's.
And India got nukes to defend itself from Pakistan and her campaign to grab Kashmir.
Since Musharraf recently declared that he doesn't want to have a referendum on Kashmir (a symbolic relinquishment of the entire Kashmir issue, IMO), neither country "needs" nukes and both India and Pakistan should be forced to roll back their nuclear programs.