NEW DELHI: Pakistan’s acquisition of a French Nuclear plant will further strengthen and enhance the infrastructure for its nuclear weapons program.. . In the long run, defence analysts feel.
“The immediate impact of the nuclear plant may be marginal but in the long run it will strengthen Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program network.” An expert at the institute for defence studies and analyses (DSA) told PTI.
Pakistan’s clandestine acquisition of nuclear technology, which has been going on for the past 18 years, requires certain amount of refinement to give it the needed legitimacy in the eyes of the international community.
It is in this context one has to examine the deals Pakistan had first with China and then with France, other experts at the IDSA said.
Ostensibly on both counts Pakistan is acquiring these nuclear power plants to supplement its energy needs. However, the experts are of the view that the Pakistanis have never hidden their intentions in acquiring nuclear technology for weapon purposes. This has been made evident from time to time by their leaders.
The technology transfer from France and China, though under international atomic energy agency (IAEA) safeguards, will allow Pakistani scientists to work on them to acquire the needed mastery and shift later to weapons manufacturing programme.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 13, 1990
