Did Anthrax Go To The US From Pakistan?

Did the anthrax, now being used by unidentified elements to create panic andconfusion in the US, go there from Pakistan?

There has been anxious, but muted speculation on this following thedissemination of two media reports, independent of each other, on October 24,2001.

The first report emanating from New York and published by the printed mediasaid: "Focus (during the investigation)  is on rogue scientists orpeople, who have been able to access anthrax from existing stockpiles."

The second report (of the Agence France Presse), emanating from Islamabad and carried on October 25, 2001,  by Pakistan's  "News", said:

"The authorities here (in Islamabad) have detained a former nuclearscientist over links between his relief agency and Taliban regime, a militaryspokesman here told AFP on Wednesday.

"Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood, the scientist who helped Pakistan become anuclear power, has been detained, his family said.  The Government has saidthe man, a public supporter of Afghanistan's Taliban regime, had been placed inprotective custody.

"Relatives of Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood, who won prestigious Sitar-e-Imtiazaward in 1998, said the arrest was made Tuesday by intelligence officials. "We don't know on what charges," said Asim Mehmood, the scientist'sson.  He said at least two other scientists, friends of his father, werealso arrested Tuesday in Lahore.  Mehmood has informed his family that heis safe, his son said.

"Family members said he had been working recently on projects inAfghanistan, including land development, educational reform and developing waysto feed the nation's impoverished population.

"Officials at the PAEC (Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission) said onWednesday that Mehmood was project director of Pakistan's nuclear programme andhad remained in key positions until he retired last year.  His links withIslamic groups and pro-Taliban sentiments had drawn scrutiny from Pakistanisecurity agencies in recent months, sources said.  Asim Mehmood said hisfather is loyal to Pakistan."  "He has always worked for thebetterment of the country," Asim said.

Dr.Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood, who had designed the Khusab nuclear powerstation, had resigned from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission on April 11,1999, following differences with Mr.Nawaz Sharif, the then Prime Minister, overreports that Pakistan was succumbing to US pressure to sign the ComprehensiveTest Ban Treaty (CTBT). He reportedly felt that this would slow down Pakistan'smilitary nuclear programme.

Like other Islamic extremist groups in Pakistan, he looked upon Pakistan'satomic bomb as the Ummah's bomb and felt that Pakistan should further strengthenthis capability in the overall interests of the Ummah and should be prepared toshare it with other Islamic countries, which needed it for their self-defence.

He and Dr.Abdul Qadir Khan, the self-styled father of the Pakistani atomicbomb, reportedly had close ties with the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq and withSaudi officials.  Earlier this year, Gen.Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan'sself-reinstated and self-extended Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), self-styledChief Executive, self-promoted President and self-proclaimed popular leader,eased out Dr. Qadir Khan from the nuclear and missile establishment, reportedlydue to US concerns over his rogue elephant activities.

Dr. Mehmood was  a designer of nuclear plants and was associated withvarious nuclear installations in Pakistan.  He had also helped prevent aleakage of heavy water at the Karachi nuclear power plant and the method he usedwas  patented under his name.

The designing of the Khusab project started in 1985, when the late MohammedKhan Junejo was the Prime Minister, under the supervision of Dr.BashiruddinMehmood, believed to be Canadian-trained, who was previously in charge ofstarting the construction of the Kahuta uranium enrichment plant before Dr.AbdulQadir Khan came from Holland and was placed above him and then was shifted toKANUPP (the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant).  Another Pakistaniscientist/engineer, who played a leading role in the designing and constructionof the Khusab reactor, was the late Afzal Haq Rajput.

Since his resignation, Dr.Mehmood had allegedly developed close ties with theHarkat-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) of Pakistan, the Taliban and bin Laden'sInternational Islamic Front For Jehad Against the US and Israel and had beenfrequently travelling to Kandahar, the headquarters of Mullah Mohammad Omer, theAmir of the Taliban, and bin Laden, under the cover of humanitarian work. It was alleged that he had also been helping bin Laden in improving the yieldfrom the fruit orchards reportedly owned by him in Afghanistan.

Dr.Mehmood was also advising the various Islamic organisations in theircampaign on the nuclear issue.  Under his guidance, they had mounted lastyear a vociferous campaign against the junta and Mr.Abdul Sattar, the ForeignMinister, on the question of the CTBT.

Addressing a religious congregation at Peshawar on January 11,2000, QaziHusain Ahmad, the Amir of  the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), warned the militaryrulers of dangerous consequences if they decided to sign the CTBT and attemptedto sabotage Pakistan's nuclear programme.   He added: "The wholenation would rise against the rulers.  The courageous and brave people ofPakistan cannot let the rulers compromise over our hard-earned nuclearcapability.

"Pakistan's nuclear programme is not only ours, but is that of the wholeMuslim Ummah.  A ruler who compromises over the nuclear programme wouldbetray the whole Ummah. "

He strongly criticised Mr. Abdul Sattar who, before joining the Government asForeign Minister, was a strong opponent of signing the CTBT, and accused him ofnow acting like an American spokesman and issuing statements favouring Pakistansigning the CTBT.

He asked the military rulers "to refrain from taking a decision whichcould anger Allah and the nation." He pointed out that Mr.Nawaz Sharif, wholet down the nation over the Kargil issue, had to go and warned the presentrulers of a similar fate if they let the nation down on the nuclear issue.

In an interview to the "Dawn" (January 13,2000), Maulana FazlurRahman, the chief of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam (JUI), said that the nuclearissue was of vital importance to national security and asked the Government notto sign the CTBT.

In a statement issued from Islamabad on January 14,2000, Maulana FazlurRahman Khalil, the Amir of the HUM, warned the Musharraf Government that signingthe CTBT would literally amount "to a rebellion against Allah Almighty'sinjunctions" He claimed that Allah, in the Holy Quran, had called for astrong defence capability for the Muslims and said: "Freezing or cappingthe nuclear programme or signing the CTBT would be an unislamic act and betraythe nation."  He accused the US of hatching a conspiracy against theIslamic world's first nuclear programme and called upon the Government toconduct more nuclear tests.

On January 17,2000, a number of Muslim leaders strongly condemned thesoftness of the Musharraf Government in resisting US pressure on this subject. Some of their comments were as follows: 

• Maulana Fazlur Rahman: Signing the CTBT would deprive Pakistan of its nuclear capability.
  
  
• Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai of the Jaish-e-Mohammad: Signing the CTBT would be like signing the death warrant of Pakistan.  Pakistani rulers would be betraying the whole Ummah and the nation.  The military rulers should know, the day they signed the CTBT would be their last day in power.
  
  
• Prof Mohammed Ibrahim,  of the JEI: The military rulers had no right to sign the CTBT.  The Government was becoming increasingly subservient to US designs.
  

In the face of this barrage of criticism from the Islamic parties, Mr.AbdulSattar announced on January 22,2000: " For the security of our country andin view of the dangers around us, each and every Pakistani is convinced that thenuclear deterrence is essential for us.  I should make it clear here thatwe are not only committed to maintaining the nuclear deterrence, but we willstrengthen it also and make it more credible.  This is a very importantissue for Pakistan.  In this context, the Government is in no hurry to signthe treaty."

Commenting on the Musharraf Government's succumbing to the pressure from theIslamic parties on the CTBT issue, an article by Rifaat Husain in the"News" of February 6,2000, said: "Led by the Jamaat Islami andegged on by some self-styled nuclear nationalists, the religious right has notonly greeted Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar's advocacy of Pakistan's earlysignature of the CTBT with angry howls of collective "no", but alsolevelled the unflattering charge of treason against him.

" Stunned by the enormity and severity of this public reaction againstthe CTBT, the Musharraf Government has begun to argue that it is in no hurry tosign the CTBT…. By conceding the tactical ground to the religious right in theCTBT public debate, the Musharraf Government has made the cardinal mistake oflegitimising its patently false stance that the CTBT is bad and dangerous forPakistan."

In a statement on February 13,2000, the Muttahada Islami Inquilabi Mahaz,another joint front of the Islamic parties, warned the Government that signingthe CTBT would be a transgression of the injunctions of the Holy Quran and theSunnat.

Meeting at Lahore on March 20,2000, about three dozen Islamic organisations,which are members of a front called the Tehrik Tahaffuz Namoos Risalat (TTNR),demanded the formulation of an Islamic nuclear doctrine to ensure the securityof the Islamic countries and to counter the Indian nuclear doctrine.  Theystrongly opposed Pakistan signing the CTBT.

On March 23, 2000, the JEI organised a public referendum in its offices allover Pakistan on the CTBT.  It later announced that 95 per cent of theparticipants had voted against Pakistan signing the CTBT.  Qazi HusainAhmad said: "If anyone has any doubts about these results, then we ask theGovernment to hold a referendum on this subject.  The results wouldsubstantiate the point.  Any Government decision against the will of thepeople would lead to a confrontation."

A joint conference of the Islamic parties of Punjab held under the auspicesof the JEI at its headquarters at Mansoora on March 27, 2000, declared asfollows: "The whole nation wishes to live with dignity for which we need topossess the nuclear deterrent.  The military leadership should respectpublic aspirations; the signing of the CTBT will be tantamount to jeopardisingthe Muslim identity."

It was Dr. Mehmood who was behind this vicious campaign.  The junta hasnot given any reasons for the reported arrest of Dr.Mehmood and this has givenrise to speculation as to whether he was one of the "rogue scientists"mentioned by the reports from New York.  The questions being asked are: Whywas he arrested? Was he suspected in connection with the anthrax scare in the USor was the arrest purely preventive so that he does not come in the way of theallied "war" against the Taliban and bin Laden? Did he play any rolein bin Laden's attempts to acquire a weapon of mass destruction (WMD)capability? Was the arrest made by the military junta on its own.  If so,has it kept Washington informed of the evidence against him? If not, was thearrest made at US instance? If so, why did the US want him arrested? Is anyfurther action contemplated against him?Questions without answers from thejunta.

In the meanwhile, the death of at least 35 jehadis of the HUM fighting withthe Taliban against the Northern Alliance due to the US air strikes has createdconsiderable embarrassment for Musharraf, who has till now been maintaining thatthe HUM is an India-based indigenous Kashmiri freedom-fighters' organisationdespite its offices being located in Pakistan and its leaders indulging in openactivities in Pakistani territory and that there are no Pakistanis in theTaliban.

Renowned international defence experts have been saying since the Talibancaptured Kabul in September,1996, that it is a largely Pakistani organisation,clandestinely controlled and guided by the military-intelligence establishment.

In a special assessment on the Taliban's fighting potential issued on October8,2001, the day after the US air strikes started, the "Jane's DefenceWeekly" of London stated as follows:

• "The Taliban have displayed an innovative approach to warfare characterised by the use of surprise, mobility, speed, impressive logistics support and an efficient command, control, communications and intelligence (C3I) network.
  
  
• " All unusual in the context of warfare in Afghanistan, these elements, along with other evidence, have lent credence in the past to reports of involvement at both planning and operational levels by Pashto-speaking Pakistani military intelligence advisers or technically retired Pakistani military personnel acting on secondment.  This was the case during the Taliban's 1998 Summer and Autumn campaign and 1999 Summer offensive.
  
  
• "Taliban forces have generally come from three distinct backgrounds: former  students of madrassas (religious schools) in both Pakistan and Afghanistan, who constitute the ideological core of the movement; former Mujahideen or jihadi (holy war) groups whose commanders joined the Taliban  for financial or ethnic reasons; and officers of the former pre-1992  Afghan Army, many from the hard line, Pashtun nationalist Khalq (Masses)   wing of the communist party.  The latter have formed a skilled, professional core in artillery, armour, communications and in the air  force, but some of these former communists were purged in late 1998.
  
  
• "More recently, another distinct element has been playing an important     military role: Pakistani and Arab religious volunteers. The Arabs, mostly    deployed on front lines north of Kabul, are estimated to number between    500 and 600.  Pakistani volunteers are far more numerous.  By late 1998, as  many as 9,000 to 10,000 Pakistanis were serving in Taliban ranks. These different backgrounds have inevitably resulted in some friction.  To minimise this, Taliban troops are kept in separate units based on nationality and, in some cases, region, district, or tribe."
  

Initially, the US and the UK heeded the request of Musharraf to refrain frombombing the forward positions lest this enable the Northern Alliance captureKabul.  However, there has been an unannounced change in their positionsince October 18,2001, when they not only started bombing the forward positionsignoring Musharraf's pleas not to do so, but also concentrating the air strikesagainst the 055 Brigade of bin Laden and the Pakistani units, which areidentifiable distinctly.

Reports from the North say that the American commanders, who have beensurprised by the continuing good morale of the Taliban leadership, the unity ofits leaders and by their dogged resistance, have concluded that it is thepresence of the large number of well-trained Pakistani jehadis and Arabs whichhas been preventing the collapse of the Afghan component of the Taliban. They seem to feel that till the Arabs and the Pakistanis are neutralised, theTaliban cannot be defeated.

This has been resulting in increasing number of casualties among thePakistanis.  The initial refusal of the Pakistani junta to let the deadbodies of the HUM jehadis killed by US strikes be brought to Karachi for burialon October 24 under  the pretext that they were not Pakistanis led toviolent demonstrations in Karachi with the Police being forced to open fire tocontrol the demonstrators.  Ultimately, the military junta relented and letthe bodies be taken to Karachi.

The USA seems to be determined to continue the air strikes on the Pakistaniunits with the Taliban even at the risk of the continued arrival of body bags inKarachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Lahore inflaming the local population andweakening further the position of Musharraf.