US must rein in Pak nuclear command: Ex-Senator Larry Pressler

Smita Sharma

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 28

Pakistan has three to four operational tactical command posts where nuclear weapons might or could be launched from, Senator Larry Pressler has warned.

A US Senator for 18 years and the architect of the Pressler Amendment of 1985, the former lawmaker was speaking at the launch of his book “Neighbours in Arms” in Delhi.

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The Pressler Amendment had banned most economic and military assistance to Pakistan in the absence of an annual certification of non-possession of nuclear devices by it signed by the US President, and halted the spread of nuclear weapons briefly in 90s. 

Pressler further expressed serious concerns about the nuclear command structure in Pakistan that leaves it very vulnerable to rogue elements. “India has very clear line of authority. In US, the President cannot alone launch nuclear weapons without the concurrence of more than a dozen people. We must get assurance from Pakistan that these tactical weapons are not unguarded or can work independently,” said the Senator. 

Agreeing with his assessment, former chief of RAW Vikram Sood emphasised that the state and non-state ideologies were blurred in Pakistan. “When you do terror under a nuclear umbrella, the terrorists already have a bomb. You have a mindset of nuclear terrorist and trigger in hand of an authority that could go rogue. So, the worry is how do you overcome the mindset,” asked Sood. 

Pressler believes that despite his controversies, there is a clear shift in the White House’s Pakistan policy under President Trump and chances of the non-NATO ally being declared a sponsor of terror cannot be ruled out. But on the Indo-US civil nuclear Deal, the US Senator expressed pessimism that it might not really go much forward and remains more of an arms deal right now.