Pak.'s double game

Sir, - The Musharraf Government in Pakistan seems to be caught in a vicious `catch-22' situation of having to simultaneously appease two bitterly warring nations. On the face of it, economic compulsions may have overridden ideological compulsions. Nevertheless, going by the recent turn of events, it is obvious that the military government, far from forsaking the Taliban altogether, is actually running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. Why else would President Musharraf nullify the very purpose of the war by insisting on setting up a `moderate' Taliban regime in a post-conflict Afghanistan? What is most alarming however, is the recent media report accusing Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of ``actively arming the Taliban through clandestine trade, seemingly approved by officials of the Musharraf Government.'' Apprehensions naturally arise that there could be a possible transfer of nuclear technology to elements currently terrorising the world.

During the peak of the Kargil crisis, the former ISI Director, Gen. Hamid Gul, had said that ``if need be, Pakistan could get out of the U.S economic stranglehold by offering its nuclear technology to the highest bidder.'' With Pakistan today becoming the U.S. key ally in its war against terrorism and with anti-U.S. sentiments on the rise in that country, the possibility of transfer of nuclear technology to the U.S.' bitter rivals - with or without the approval of the present Government of Pakistan - cannot be wholly ruled out.

Mrs. Nalini Vijayaraghavan,

Thiruvananthapuram

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