Eyes on Pakistan as nuke summit gets underway

Attention is riveted on nuclear-armed Pakistan, where a Taliban insurgency and al Qaeda coexist with the world’s fastest-growing nuclear arsenal, as the curtain goes up on a two-day nuclear security summit in Washington, aimed at keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists.

“While Pakistan struggles to make sure its weapons and nuclear labs are not vulnerable to attack by al Qaeda, the country is getting ready to greatly expand its production of weapons-grade fuel,” The New York Times reported. The US daily said Pakistan was getting into a dangerous arms race with India. 

A senior American official told the daily that president Barack Obama used his meeting on Sunday with Pakistani prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to “express disappointment” that Islamabad was blocking the opening of negotiations on a treaty that would halt production of new nuclear material around the world.

Experts say accelerated weapons-grade fuel production in Pakistan translates into an “increased risk” of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists.

Most of the tough messages from the Obama-spearheaded summit are directed at states such as Iran and North Korea, even as Washington continues to gloss over the situation in Pakistan.

India and other critics, however, are likely to remind the global summit of Pakistan’s nuclear smuggling, highlighting the Taliban insurgency and give voice to fears about how militants could seize atomic material.

In an interview, Obama avoided a question about his progress in building on a five-year, $100-million Bush administration programme to safeguard Pakistan’s arms and materials.