August 11, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 26, 1428

WASHINGTON, Aug 10: The US military is ‘urgently assessing’ the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in the event that President Pervez Musharraf is killed or deposed, CNN reported on Friday.

The news network quoted three US officials, identified as military officers and intelligence analysts, telling its correspondents that the US was “not certain who might start controlling nuclear launch codes and weapons if that shift in power were to happen”.

CNN’s Pentagon correspondent said the US government knew where Pakistan’s nuclear weapons were located.

The news network said it granted anonymity to its sources because of the sensitivity of the matters they were discussing.

US officials, however, refused to comment on the story. “If it’s an intelligence matter, we cannot comment on it,” a State Department official told Dawn.

The assessment is part of a broader review of the military and security situation in Pakistan.

The current review is a result of recent developments in that country, including the prospect that Gen Musharraf could still declare a national emergency that would give him sweeping powers, CNN reported.

There is also a growing understanding according to the US analysis that Gen Musharraf’s control over the military remains limited to certain top commanders and units, raising worries about whether he can maintain control over the long-term, the report said.

According to CNN, US officials also said that one of the key problems for the US military was what restrictions on US-Pakistani military cooperation could be imposed if Gen Musharraf were to impose a state of emergency.