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Pakistan: We Would Not Use Nukes First, Says Envoy Pakistan would “not be the first to use nuclear weapons,” said Pakistani envoy Najimuddin Sheikh in Moscow yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 18). “Our nuclear potential services only to deter a potential aggressor and is under effective control which rules out unauthorized use,” he said (Vladimir Suprun, ITAR-Tass, Jan. 21). Meanwhile, recent diplomatic efforts have decreased the danger that Pakistan and India would fight a major war, and U.S. intelligence agencies do not consider a major Indian attack imminent, U.S. officials said. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell recently visited the region, urging Pakistan to crack down on Islamic militants while asking India to accept efforts by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to end terrorism (see GSN, Jan. 8). The United States also asked India to avoid testing its new Prithvi missile (see GSN, Dec. 12, 2001) and asked Israel to delay delivering the Phalcon airborne surveillance system to India (see GSN, Jan. 16), U.S. officials said. Tensions along the Pakistan-India border remain high, however, and U.S. officials remain worried about the potential consequences, the New York Times reported. Both sides have deployed troops along the border. India deployed its Prithvi short-range ballistic missile, and Pakistan fielded its Hatf missiles (see GSN, Jan. 14). “It is still dangerous because India still has a strict set of demands and because there is still a mobilization. The situation is vulnerable to shock the next time there is a terrorist attack,” said a senior U.S. defense official. India has refused to move its troops away from the border, despite U.S. requests, the Times reported (Michael Gordon, New York Times, Jan. 20).
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