Pakistan: Militants Threaten “Sovereignty, Integrity of the State”

Militants threaten Pakistan’s integrity, Pakistan’s leaders said on Friday, after over 170 people were killed in terrorist attacks so far this month.

Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani briefed military and political party leaders on the situation in a meeting at the prime minister’s house. “[T]he recent upsurge of terror incidents in the country was condemned and it was agreed that these elements ‘pose a serious threat to the sovereignty and integrity of the state,’” said a statement issued after the meeting.

The same day, three suicide bombers killed 11 people in an attack on a police station in northwestern Pakistan.

Earlier in the week, terrorists launched a suicide car bomb attack against a military vehicle in a crowded market, killing 41.

The most disquieting attack occurred on October 10, when 10 militants dressed in army gear attacked the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, killing 23 people and taking 39 people hostage for 20 hours. The siege ended when army commandos rescued the hostages.

This has led some analysts to ask, if the Taliban can penetrate Pakistan’s strategic defense headquarters, then could it also seize Pakistan’s nuclear warheads?

“If a relatively small group of people is able to penetrate into their ‘Pentagon,’ then it might show something about the overconfidence of the Pakistanis, and that is worrisome—it’s surprising that they were able to go in there relatively simply,” said director of the Nuclear Information Project of the Federation of American Scientists, Hans Kristensen.

“Pakistan’s weapons are less secure today than they were five years ago, and it seems they’re even less secure than under the Musharraf government,” said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political studies and conflict management at Bar Ilan University in Israel.

Some analysts argue that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is too secure for the Taliban to take. But the Taliban could still build a formidable weapon without having to steal an actual warhead. Radioactive waste from the nuclear program could be used to create a so-called dirty bomb, capable of causing mass panic.

Even the government admits that Pakistan is becoming a mobocracy. And the mob is baying for Islamic rule. Pakistan has descended into anarchy since the United States forced President Pervez Musharraf to step down in August last year. Prior to that, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry warned, “American leaders are telling Musharraf to take off his military uniform and give real freedom to that country. However, the military is the only institution that gives stability to that extremely divided country!” Now, not only is freedom disappearing, as many Pakistanis are forced to obey the Taliban or die, but the government is also increasingly losing the ability to protect its own citizens.

“We even help push our allies into the hands of radical Islam,” wrote Mr. Flurry. “That is a dangerous kind of ignorance. Are we about to see another ayatollah rise to power? This time in nuclear Pakistan? And will America be mostly to blame?”

Watch the descent of Pakistan. It is a dangerous monument to America’s foolish foreign policy. For more information, see “Pakistan and the Shah of Iran.”