A WEEK from tomorrow will mark the 18th anniversary of Nawaz Sharif’s crowning achievement — the Chagai nuclear tests. We hear much these days about ‘development’ in the form of motorways, metro buses and what not but make no mistake — the announcement of Pakistan’s nuclear capability remains the jewel in the PML-N crown.

What the Sharifs have called ‘Youm-i-Takbeer’ will be celebrated this year like in the past with the usual regalia. For a day the government will gain respite from all of its troubles and remind us all of the greatness of the Pakistani nation and the fact that we are now forever protected from the evil eye of the enemy (read: India).

But after that day has passed, the prime minister will once again be in the dock, trying to convince the ‘public’ that he is not corrupt to the core and entitled to continue being the (rather ceremonial) leader of the country.

Indeed one gets the sense that even on May 28 itself, the Pakistani people will not suddenly be transported back to that point in time 18 years ago when Nawaz Sharif, heroic son of the soil, proved to the world that we belonged in the comity of great nations.

There has never been a public debate on the bomb.

I was not among those particularly moved that day. It didn’t feel like there was anything valiant about possessing a nuclear bomb given the abject living conditions of millions of ordinary people in this country. I remember feeling disturbed by the collective outpouring of national pride, and realising just how distraught Robert Oppen­heimer must have been when the original A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Those in this country that harbour a public position that is not unequivocally in favour of the bomb generally fall into the category of persona non grata. The standard view is that our possession of the bomb has forever eliminated the possibility of defeat in conventional war with our perennial enemy to the east.

Quite aside from the fact that we have initiated at least as many wars as India has, and the fact that the last of these took place barely a year after the nuclear tests (read: Kargil 1999), I cannot help but ask whether ‘public opinion’ vis-à-vis our nuclear capability is as gung-ho today as it was up to some years ago.

As with so many other matters of significance in this country, there has never really been anything approximating a public debate about the bomb, its meaning and the long-term consequences of its making. I doubt that such a debate will take place anytime soon, and so I am limited to outlining briefly here the contours of what such a debate would look like.

First, what are the ethics of nuclear energy (remember that the bomb is only the most obvious and potent form)? We in this country have not been exposed to the realities of nuclear devastation, whether that which followed the American bombings at the toe-end of the Second World War in Japan in 1945 or accidents such as Chernobyl and more recently Fukushima. How would young people in this country feel about the bomb if they were adequately educated about the fallouts of nuclear energy?

Second, given that the discourse about the bomb focuses so much on India, what would a nuclear war in the subcontinent actually look like? If we were to ever use a nuclear weapon against the evil enemy to the east, do we actually believe that we would suffer nothing for it? We share a border after all, and even bombing Kolkata would have serious repercussions for generations of Pakistanis hence.

Third, what are the costs of continuing to dedicate exorbitant resources to a nuclear programme, and, for that matter, a highly unproductive military establishment? Ours is a country where health, education, drinking water, sanitation and many other basic needs remain unmet for a scandalously large part of the population. How do we reconcile that picture with the notion that the bomb makes us infinitely secure?

For the record, I would not include in this hypothetical public debate the question of the command-and-control system of our nuclear facilities, a subject that has preoccupied ‘experts’ for many years. Who needs to be worried about a fanatical jihadi pressing the red button when Pakistani officialdom — and specifically the security establishment — has on more than one occasion indicated that it would not hesitate to use the bomb if push comes to shove?

Perhaps a large majority of people in this country still take great pride in us having the bomb. Either way, Nawaz Sharif’s current plight offers a cautionary tale about the limits of nationalism. His government will make hay next weekend about the bomb but that will not save his legacy. Meanwhile, the rest of us will continue to make believe that ‘national security’ is the only thing that matters.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2016