The man who secures Pak nukes

LAHORE: Before his posting as the Director-General of the Strategic Plan Division, Lt. General Kidwai was serving as the Manager of the Strategic Plans Division. Considered close to Musharraf, Kidwai was made the Colonel Commandant of the corps of Artillery Regimental Centre in 2004. Musharraf himself used to be affiliated with this corp.

According to a report by Landau network,  an Italian arms-control organisation, Lt. General Khalid Kidwai, the commander of Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division, has gone on record stating that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are not equipped with PALs (Permissive Action Links), the coded locking devices on all US nuclear weapons that reduce the risk of theft and unauthorised use. 

Kidwai maintains, however, that such devices are not necessary in Pakistan because its nuclear arsenal is kept, in normal peacetime circumstances, in a non-alert status, which means either that the warheads are kept separated from delivery vehicles or the warheads are maintained in a less than fully-assembled status, with the cores separated from the other warhead components.

The view that nuclear weapons might encourage Indian aggression at low intensity warfare levels was also presented in the more detailed description of Pakistani nuclear doctrine given by Lt. General Khalid Kidwai in early 2002.  

Kidwai, the head of the Strategic Plans Division, which is responsible for nuclear plans as well as command and control and the physical security of the arsenal, maintained that nuclear weapons would be used only “if the very existence of Pakistan as a state is at stake.” 

In January 2002, General Khalid Kidwai, the head of the Pakistani army’s Strategic Plans Division, which oversees nuclear-weapons development and deployment, gave an interview to Paolo Cotta-Ramusino and Maurizio Martellini of the Landau Network.

It has since then become apparent that the Pakistani establishment felt the need to clarify its position given the concern expressed in Western circles since September 11, 2001, about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear estate, and used the Landau interview for that purpose.

Among other things, Kidwai gave the possible conditions under which Pakistan could use nuclear weapons against an adversary. Stating that Pakistan would use atomic weapons only “if the very existence of Pakistan as a state is at stake,” Kidwai proceeded to give details. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are aimed solely at India. In case that deterrence fails, they will be used if:

a) India attacks Pakistan and conquers a large part of its territory (space threshold).
b) India destroys a large part either of its land or air forces (military threshold).
c) India proceeds to the economic strangling of Pakistan (economic strangling).
d) India pushes Pakistan into political destabilisation or creates a large-scale internal subversion in Pakistan (domestic destabilisation).

The context in which Kidwai made these proclamations was the 2002 border crisis with India. After the December 13, 2001, attack on India’s parliament by militant groups that the Pakistani government later accepted as originating from Pakistan, India started a military mobilisation titled “Operation Parakram” (Operation Valour).