'China, Pak. maintained contacts in n-field'

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, AUG. 19. Way back in June 1983, the United States had concluded that China was providing assistance to Pakistan's programme to develop a nuclear weapons' capability.

A declassified U.S. State Department briefing paper entitled The Pakistan Nuclear Programme of June 23, 1983, posted on the website of the National Security Archive of George Washington University (http://www.gwu.edu.nsarchiv) is unambiguous on China's support for Pakistan's programme.

``We have concluded that China has provided assistance to Pakistan's program(me) to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Over the past several years, China and Pakistan have maintained contacts in the nuclear field,'' the hitherto `secret' document said.

``For some time, China's involvement was limited to aspects of the KANUPP power reactor at Karachi. We now believe cooperation has taken place in the area of fissile material production and possibly also nuclear fissile design,'' the paper said.

According to the paper, the U.S. had information that the Pakistani nuclear programme began soon after the 1974 nuclear test. ``The work was given to an organisation within the Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission, which handled such topics as implosion hydrodynamics, neutronics, high explosives testing, and metallurgy, including packaging of high explosives.''

``Subsequently, work was done on an electronic triggering circuit for nuclear device detonation, as well as experiments on conventional as well as shaped changes. This work complemented the acquisition of reprocessing and enrichment capability,'' it said.

``We believe that Pakistan has already undertaken a substantial amount of the necessary design and high explosives testing of the explosive triggering device for a nuclear explosive device and we believe Pakistan is now capable of producing a workable package of this kind. The nuclear explosive development programme has attempted to purchase cameras and camera equipment specifically for nuclear-related explosives work,'' the State Department said nearly 20 years ago.

The document also reveals that the State Department had precise information about Pakistani nuclear plans and actions and the Chinese connection in these.

``In enrichment, Pakistan is embarked on an effort to build a gas centrifuge facility capable of producing high enriched uranium. Development of a centrifuge enrichment facility in Pakistan was begun in earnest in 1975 and is now centred at Kahuta near Islamabad. The plant is to eventually house several thousand machines.

``The program(me) uses European technology (the designs for the machines were stolen by a Pakistani national) and has involved energetic procurement activities in various countries. The Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL), the organisation responsible for Pakistan's unsafeguarded enrichment program(me) has long relied on an international network of procurement agents and front organisations to purchase the equipment for use in its gas centrifuge plant....''

``We believe that the Pakistanis have experienced difficulty in making there centrifuge machines work and that the Pakistanis have not yet produced any significant quantities of enriched uranium. Because of these operational problems, the Pakistanis in the recent past sought help from the Chinese. We do not know what the present status of that cooperation is,'' the paper said.

In its introduction, the document said: ``There is unambiguous evidence that Pakistan is actively pursuing a nuclear weapons development program(me). Pakistan's near-term goal is to have a nuclear test capability, enabling it to explode a nuclear device if Zia (ul-Haq) decides it appropriate for diplomatic and domestic political gains. Pakistan's long-term goal is to establish a nuclear deterrent to aggression by India, which remains Pakistan's greatest security concern.''

The Chinese role in Pakistan's nuclear programme has been long suspected, but this declassified U.S. State Department document confirms that Washington has been aware of it for at least 20 years.

This document also reveals that the U.S., while being aware of the Pakistani programme backed by China, did not take any steps at the time to prevent Islamabad from acquiring this capability. Given the context of the CIA-ISI nexus and the `Afghan jehad' against the then Soviet Union, Washington, obviously, had different priorities in the 1980s.

The then U.S. President, Mr. Ronald Reagan, was criticised for waiving laws that would have barred aid to Pakistan for importing certain technologies relating to nuclear weapons.

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