KARACHI, March 14: Pakistan can overcome the present nuclear proliferation crisis through a national consensus, which is possible only if Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif are part of the national dialogue.
This was the crux of the speeches delivered on Sunday at a seminar organised by the Sindh Study Circle of the Pakistan People's Party on 'Nuclear proliferation: Responsibility and implications".
The seminar, held at a local hotel, was presided over by the PPP's deputy secretary-general Senator Raza Rabbani. Hakim Ali Zardari, an eminent politician, was also present on the occasion, while Qamar Zaman Rajpar conducted the seminar.
Speakers said that generals could not absolve themselves from the responsibility of nuclear proliferation by making Dr A.Q. Khan their scapegoat. They said these generals supervised the KRL and they had barred an elected prime minister from visiting there.
Expressing reservations about the authenticity of Dr A.Q. Khan's confessional statement, speakers termed the perception that it had saved Pakistan from a major disaster incorrect, saying the Western world was ignoring the issue because of its own exigencies. They, however, warned that the West would use the statement as an 'open FIR' against Pakistan whenever they wanted.
Senator Raza Rabbani questioned the contradictory statements issued by various government leaders, the foreign office and the US foreign secretary, Colin Powell.
He demanded to know the government's stand on rolling back of the country's missile programme besides the IAEA's request regarding provision of samples nuclear material for matching with that provided by Iran.
Criticizing the government for not taking parliament into confidence over sensitive issues, including the matter of nuclear scientists' debriefing, saying they should have been discussed 'in camera,' adding that details in this regard could easily be obtained from the western media, including CNN, BBC, the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune.
Terming the government's statement regarding filing of a fresh reference against Benazir Bhutto for dissenting over the the government's policies part of its continuing pressure tactics, Senator Rabbani said such tactics would not help the government in installing new leadership in the PPP or the ARD. The PPP, he said, would never compromise on its principles.
PML-N's additional secretary-general Ahsan Iqbal said that military's proliferation in civil institutions was a bigger problem than the problem of nuclear proliferation.
He said Z.A. Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif had shrugged off foreign pressures because of the massive popular support. Mr Ahsan said that only through the revival of a democratic process could save Pakistan from being indicted in the nuclear proliferation issue, adding that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif should be allowed to be part of the process.
PPP Sindh's president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro equated the present scandal with the US Watergate scandal, saying the truth in this regard could not be kept hidden from the public for a long time.
Begum Syeda Abida Hussain, a PML-N leader and former ambassador to the US, recalled an incident, which she said occurred just before her going to the US, saying a US official hadd called on the then president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and had used impolite language while asking the president to roll back the country's nuclear programme, adding that the president did not succumb to pressure and refused to oblige the US in this regard.
Summing up the present situation, she said: "Half of Pakistan is Al Qaeda and other half is 'Al Faeda' (booty)". Makhdoom Jamiluz Zaman, a PPP leader, blamed the US for the nuclear proliferation and criticised the Wana operation.
Mamnoon Hussain, a PML-N leader and former Sindh governor, said the repeated army interventions in national politics were to be blamed for the present crisis.
Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, chief of the Balochistan National Party, said criticized nuclear proliferation and said the country had remained under the rule of a "troika comprising Mullah, army and the US".
Assuring Balochistan's full participation in any struggle for the restoration of true democracy, he said that it was high time to challenge the rulers, saying no change would come from the US or Europe.
Makhdoom Khaliquz Zaman said that the country needed what he termed 'ISI-free politics,' adding that instead of looking towards the US for removal of Gen Musharraf, "we must come out of air-conditioned drawing rooms" and lead the people in the streets.
Syed Akram Shah of the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Shah Muhammad Shah, president of PPP's Sindh Study Circle, Muzaffar Hussain Shujra and Rashid Rabbani also spoke on the occasion.
