Are Indian Nukes in Unsafe Hands? By Sajjad Shaukat (JR202S69

Are Indian Nukes in Unsafe Hands? By Sajjad Shaukat (JR202S69

                                              

In the recent years, various conferences and seminars have been held regarding the security of nuclear weapons and radioactive materials, as the participant countries were worried that terrorist outfits like the Islamic State group (Also known as Daesh, ISIS and ISIL) may get these fatal weapons and can use against a state actor or any country to create misunderstanding, which may culminate into an atomic war.

In this regard, the US former President Barack Obama had hosted the fourth Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on March 31, 2016 to check the spread of nuclear weapons, showing concerns about the ambitions of terrorist groups such as the ISIS in acquiring a nuclear weapon or radioactive materials.

In this respect, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is organizing the third International Conference on Nuclear Security: Sustaining and Strengthening Efforts (ICONS 2020) at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, from 10 to 14 February 2020. The previous conference, held in 2016, attracted over 2000 participants, including 47 government ministers, from 139 Member States and 29 intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The conference provides a forum to formulate and exchange views for nuclear security.

It is notable that in its report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) disclosed on June 18, 2018 that estimated 110-130 Indian nuclear bombs are stored in six or so government–run sites across India. Within the next five years to one decade, as many as 60 reactors will also be functional in India with the active cooperation of the US led Western and far eastern allies.

In the past, several incidents of leakage and theft in addition to alarming episodes of lax security on existing nuclear sites in view of a history of civil tumult have occurred in India. India is notorious for highly lax security of its nuclear facilities. The episode of October 8, 2014 at Kalpakkam, when a soldier of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) responsible for protecting nuclear materials, went on a rampage to destroy the security of the facility leading to nuclear material theft by criminals.

Indian media reported on July 5, last year that the Kolkata police have arrested five men with 1 kg of uranium valued at around Rs. 3 crores ($440,000).

The Times of India elaborated that the men had come to Kolkata in the state of West Bengal to try to sell the substance. Police were quoted as saying that two packets of a “yellow-coloured substance” were seized.

By pursuing the double standards of America and some Western countries in its worst form, the US President Donald Trump has favoured India, while opposing the nuclear weapons of Pakistan. Trump has brushed aside the ground realities that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi led by the ruling extremist party BJP has been implementing anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan agenda.

While, Indian past record proves various kinds of security and safety lapses regarding various nuclear plants and the related sensitive materials, including events of leakage, nuclear theft, smuggling and killing.

In November, 2009, more than 90 Indian workers suffered radiation due to contamination of drinking water at the Kaiga Atomic Power Station in Karnataka.

On July 27, 1991, a similar event occurred at the heavy water plant run by the Department of Atomic Energy at Rawatbhata in Rajasthan. Nuclear radiation had affected and injured many laborers there.

In July 1998, India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) seized eight Kg. of nuclear material from three engineers in Chennai, which was stolen from an atomic research center.

On November 7, 2000, IAEA disclosed that Indian police had seized 57 pounds of uranium and arrested two men for illicit trafficking of radioactive material. IAEA had revealed that Indian civil nuclear facilities were vulnerable to thefts.

On January 26, 2003, CNN pointed out that Indian company, NEC Engineers Private Ltd. shipped 10 consignments to Iraq, containing highly sensitive equipments entailing titanium vessels and centrifugal pumps.

In December 2006, a container packed with radioactive material had been stolen from an Indian fortified research atomic facility near Mumbai.

In June 2009, India’s nuclear scientist, Lokanathan Mahalingam missed from the scenario and after a couple of days; his dead body was recovered from the Kali River. Indian police concocted a story that Mahalingam had committed suicide by jumping into the river. It is a big joke to hide some real facts behind his death because wisdom proves that if an educated person decides to commit suicide, he will definitely adopt a soft way to eliminate his life. Afterwards, Dr. Haleema Saadia said that death of the scientist was a conspiracy.

However, such events in connection with nuclear material continued unabated in India, putting the security of atomic weapons and their related components, including the lives of workers at high risk.

In this context, the more dangerous development is that in the start of November, 2019, international media pointed out cyber-attack on an India nuclear power plan.

In this connection, The Washington Post wrote on November 4, 2019: “The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has now confirmed that there was a cyberattack on the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu, India, in September. The nuclear power plant’s administrative network was breached in the attack…KKNPP plant officials had initially denied  suffering an attack…The KKNPP is the biggest nuclear power plant in India…VirusTotal, a virus scanning website owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has indicated  that a large amount of data from the KKNPP’s administrative network has been stolen. If this is true, subsequent attacks on the nuclear power plant could target its critical systems more effectively. Cyberattacks on nuclear power plants could have physical effects, especially if the network that runs the machines and software controlling the nuclear reactor are compromised. This can be used to facilitate sabotage, theft of nuclear materials, or—in the worst-case scenario—a reactor meltdown. In a densely populated country like India, any radiation release from a nuclear facility would be a major disaster”.

Nevertheless, it has raised serious questions and worries—hacking of India’s nuclear information and its repercussions for the world?—sensitive information now available to hackers in black market— is the world safe?—sitting on the edge of catastrophe—IAEA must look into command and control system of India, recommending an action against New Delhi.

It is noteworthy that during his first visit to New Delhi, on November 6, 2010. President Obama announced the measures, America would take regarding removal of Indian space and defence companies from a restricted “entities list”, and supported Indian demand membership of four key global nuclear nonproliferation regimes. Despite, Indian violations of various international agreements and its refusal to sign Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and Additional Protocol with the IAEA, Washington signed a pact of nuclear civil technology with New Delhi in 2008. During American President Obama’s second visit to India, on January 25, 2016, the US and India announced a breakthrough on the pact which would allow American companies to supply New Delhi with civilian nuclear technology.

Notably, America is a potential military supplier to India. US also pressurized IAEA and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to grant a waiver to New Delhi for obtaining civil nuclear trade on larger scale.

Although these atomic weapons or radioactive materials seem to be mysterious, yet still could be within the reach of some Hindu terrorists with the help of Indian RAW which might have also got these destructive arms from Israeli Mossad.

Sources suggest that with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons and their components are easier to acquire. The fears are widespread that unemployed Russian scientists might have provided expertise material about these devices to some sovereign and non-sovereign entities. Hindu terrorists could also get these destructive weapons from Israel as strong Indo-Israeli lobbies are collectively working particularly in the US against the interests of Muslims by manipulating the war against terrorism. Such chemical and radiological materials could also be smuggled inside India by the Hindu fanatics. And they can also buy nuclear devices covertly from the global black market.

Frustrated in isolating Islamabad, RAW in connivance with Mossad might have also prepared a most dangerous plan to use nuclear weapons or dirty nuclear bombs inside the US homeland or any major European country to implicate Pakistan for having allegedly used these weapons through some Taliban militants.

Particularly, RAW and Mossad may also employ these fatal weapons against NATO forces in Afghanistan, as India and Israel want to prolong the stay of the US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan which has become the center of their covert activities against Pakistan, Russia, China and Iran. Terrorists of the ISIS which are strategic assets of the CIA may be used by RAW and Mossad for employment of these unconventional weapons. While, India, Israel and America are also playing double game against one another, hence, by utilizing the vicious circle of terrorism, New Delhi can alone use these weapons through Afghanistan-based Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and ISIS which are also being backed by RAW, CIA and Mossad, and have claimed responsibility for several terror assaults inside Pakistan and Afghanistan, including the recent ones. So, RAW’s sole aim will be to provoke Americans and its allies against Islamabad which is challenging Indian hegemony in the region. Thus, RAW could create a dangerous misunderstanding in which US could use small nuclear weapons against Pakistan or could ask the latter of rollback its atomic programme.

At present, almost 100 have been passed. Indian forces have continued military clampdown in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). On August 5, 2019, New Delhi unilaterally annexed the IOK, revoking articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution which gave a special status to Kashmir. While, Indian extremist rulers are also escalating tensions with Pakistan to divert attention from the drastic situation of the Indian Held Kashmir, and without bothering for anomic war, their forces have continued shelling inside Pakistani side of Kashmir by violating the ceasefire agreement in relation to the Line of Control (LoC).

As regards Modi’s victory in the elections 2019, analysts opined, “Modi’s election win is a victory for far right Hindu nationalism…India’s secular democracy is under threat…BJP’s record in 2015-2019 has been divisive to say the least. The party has marginalised religious minorities, especially Muslims, from public life with many; as a result, being lynched by Hindu nationalists in the name of cow protection…Jingoism and Islamophobia have propelled the BJP to an even stronger showing than in 2014. A Modi victory puts India’s 200 million Muslims in danger…Modi is part of the large Hindu supremacist family…In his home state of Odisha, he furthered India’s sectarian divide, pushed the idea of Hindu supremacy and with that, violence against Muslims, Christians and other minorities…Modi is radicalising Muslims.”

Undoubtedly, we can conclude that Indian insecure nuclear programme is threatening regional and global peace. Therefore, world’s various forums such as EU, UNO and especially IAEA should take cognizance of New Delhi in this regard.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

India Converted Kashmir into Concentration Camps By Sajjad Shaukat (JR 195 SS 66)

India Converted Kashmir into Concentration Camps By Sajjad Shaukat (JR195 SS 66)

Massacre of the Jews through various tactics of torture in the concentration camps, erected by Hitler before and during the World War 11 is still shocking and condemnable. It was a big tragedy, popularly known as the Holocaust, conducted by the forces of state terrorism.

According to the Zionist-controlled American leading think-tanks and media, “Genocide of 5 [or six] million Jews was carried out at the extermination camps, using tools of mass murder, such as gas chambers of Germany, Poland, Austria and Alsace”

But, impartial researchers have opined: “All Jews were not killed through gas chambers, but also due to hunger, diseases and depression.”

Renowned historians agree that Hitler was impulsive ruler, guided by ungoverned temper—he was the most ambitious leader who believed in the principle of “world power or downfall.” He had a firm faith in the superiority of German race and inferiority of other races. Anti-Semitism and the Nazi ideology played a major role in Hitler’s thinking. He believed that the path to German greatness was through aggressive military actions. He started a programme of enormous armament by developing German military on modern lines.

After coming to power, Adolf Hitler’s internal policies were authoritarian and totalitarian. The secret police-Gestapo was formed to deal with the slightest indication of opposition. He mixed politics with religious fervor and massacred several Jews in the concentration camps. 

Hitler and the Nazi Party had come to power with the avowed purpose of conquering colonies and foreign lands for the Germans. They must have a living space-‘Lebensraum’ as the Nazis called it for the living surplus German population and find raw materials and markets for German industrial goods.

It was due to Hitler’s unskilled diplomacy that militarization of Germany alarmed France, England and Russia. Thus, they humiliated the Germans, as their country was defeated in the World War II.

Learning no lesson from ‘Hilterite’ Germany, India converted Kashmir into concentration camps. In this respect, Indian extremist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government ended special status of the Jummu and Kashmir on August 5, this year by abolishing articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution in a malevolent attempt to turn Muslim majority into minority in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

The upper house of India’s parliament also passed a bill proposing the state of Jammu and Kashmir which includes the Kashmir Valley and the Ladakh area—be split into two federal territories. Jammu and Kashmir will have a state legislature, and Ladakh will be ruled directly by New Delhi.

India which already had 500,000 troops in the Indian Controlled Kashmir sent almost 30000 extra troops, while escalating tensions with Pakistan.

Despite, India’s excessive deployment of troops in the Kashmir region, expulsion of Hindu pilgrims, tourists, closure of educational institutions, arrest of the Kashmiri leaders and imposition of curfew, Kashmiris have accelerated the war of liberation, being waged for their right of self-determination, which was also recgonised by the United Nations resolutions.

In fact, India is implementing brutal scheme through military operation to suppress the Kashmiris’ struggle. Indian forces have already intensified state terrorism, as every day innocent Kashmiris are being martyred. In the recent past, Indian forces again used cluster bombs on the Kashmiris. Many Kashmiris have become permanently blind and paralyzed due to pellet guns shots, including chemical weapons used by the ruthless Indian forces.

In this connection, human rights groups and even Western media have condemned Indian illegal measures and human rights violations which continue unabated.

The Independent wrote on August 13, 2019: “Kashmir’s tight security and communications lockdown remained in place…as reports emerged of daily essentials running low. Restrictions on almost all movement in the disputed Himalayan region were strictly enforced…With internet and phone lines still cut off since the decision on 5 August to strip Kashmir of its special constitutional status and the right to make its own laws, the valley has become the setting for all-out information warfare….soldiers stopping vehicles in the centre of Srinagar, causing a traffic jam just as a military surveillance drone flew over….The network of barbed passageways was unprecedented…entire Srinagar city has been knitted in razor wire to seek our silence and obedience…closure of mosques curtailed the religious freedoms of Kashmiri Muslims…Restrictions and curtailment of this fundamental religious freedom of millions of Kashmiri Muslims constitutes a serious violation of applicable international human rights law, to which India is a party.”

The New York Times wrote on August 10, 2019: “On the streets of Srinagar, Kashmir’s biggest city, security officers tied black bandannas over their faces, grabbed their guns and took positions behind checkpoints. People glanced out the windows of their homes, afraid to step outside. Many were cutting back on meals and getting hungry….Shops were shut. A.T.M.s had run dry…internet, mobile phones, even landlines…remained severed, rendering millions of people incommunicado…life under lockdown in Kashmir and found a population that felt besieged, confused, frightened and furious by the seismic event…Several residents said they had been beaten up by security forces for simply trying to buy necessities like milk. Many Kashmiris see India as an oppressive and foreign ruler. Tens of thousands of troops from the Indian Army, the Central Reserve Police Force (a paramilitary unit) and the Kashmiri State police have been deployed in just about every corner of the valley. In some villages, even remote ones, a soldier was posted outside the gate of each family’s home….The lockdown’s effects are visible everywhere. Schools have been closed. Parks are deserted. Baby food is running out…At the Lala Ded hospital, sick people had traveled more than a day to get here, only to find a skeleton crew. Many doctors couldn’t get to work. Many patients were curled up on the floor…Many Kashmiris fear that Mr. Modi’s sweeping decision, which also wiped away a decades-old provision that gave Kashmiris special land ownership rights, will encourage millions of Hindu migrants from India to move into the valley, fabled for its stunning alpine scenery and fertile soil. Kashmiris fear they will be turned into a minority in their own land.”

On August 12, 2019, Human Rights Watch (HRW) demanded the Indian government to lift the communications blackout and step back in Kashmir. In a statement, the HRW South Asia Director Meenakshi Ganguly said since one week Kashmiris remain mostly under lockdown and their leaders are under arrest.

In a press release on August 13, 2019, Amnesty International condemned a decision by India’s Supreme Court to allow New Delhi to continue a security crackdown and communications blackout in Kashmir. Urging New Delhi to ease restrictions imposed in Kashmir, Amnesty warned that “a complete clampdown on civil liberties is only likely to increase tensions, alienate the people and increase the risk of further human rights violations”.

Notably, various forms of state terrorism have been part of a deliberate campaign by the Indian army and paramilitary forces against the Muslim Kashmiris, particularly since 1989. It has been manifested in brutal tactics like crackdowns, curfews, illegal detentions, massacre, targeted killings, sieges, burning the houses, torture, disappearances, rape, breaking the legs, molestation of Muslim women and killing of persons through fake encounters.

Besides Human Rights Watch, in its report on July 2, 2015, the Amnesty International has highlighted extrajudicial killings of the innocent persons at the hands of Indian security forces in the Indian Held Kashmir. The report said, “Tens of thousands of security forces are deployed in Indian-administered Kashmir…the Armed Forces Special Powers Act allows troops to shoot to kill suspected militants or arrest them without a warrant…not a single member of the armed forces has been tried in a civilian court for violating human rights in Kashmir…this lack of accountability has in turn facilitated other serious abuses…India has martyred one 100,000 people. More than 8,000 disappeared (while) in the custody of army and state police.”

It is of particular attention that in 2008, a rights group reported unmarked graves in 55 villages across the northern regions of the IOK. Then researchers and other groups reported finding thousands of mass graves without markers. In this respect, in August, 2011, Indian Jammu and Kashmir State Human Rights Commission officially acknowledged in its report that innocent civilians killed in the two-decade conflict have been buried in unmarked graves.

Foreign sources and human rights organisations have revealed that unnamed graves include those innocent persons, killed by the Indian military and paramilitary troops in the fake encounters, including those who were tortured to death by the RAW. In the recent past, more unmarked graves have been discovered.

In this regard, in its report, China’s leading News Agency Xinhua has unearthed more unnamed graves in Poonch of the Indian Controlled Kashmir. The report quoted the statement of Sofi Aziz Joo, caretaker of a graveyard as saying, “Police and Army used to bring those bodies and direct me to bury them. The bodies were usually bullet-ridden, mutilated, faces disfigured and sometimes without limbs and heads.”

It is noteworthy that in a series of tweets on August 12, this year, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has likened India’s abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir state’s autonomy to Nazi ideology, and warned the international community that inaction would be similar to appeasing Hitler Munich.

Prime Minister Khan further stated: “The ideology of Hindu Supremacy, like the Nazi Aryan Supremacy, will not stop in Kashmir…the Hindu Supremacists version of Hitler’s Lebensraum would lead to the suppression of Muslims in India and eventually lead to targeting of Pakistan…Attempt is to change demography of Kashmir through ethnic cleansing”.

Addressing the session of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad on August 14, this year, Prime Minister Imran Khan said: “He has assumed responsibility of raising the voice of Kashmir in the world by exposing the true face of RSS ideology dominant in India is dangerous for all…he has tried to fully expose the true face of BJP and its leader Modi before the world in his statements and tweets…ideology of RSS which was inspired from Nazi party of Hitler. RSS followers considered themselves superior to other nations in India. The RSS ideology hates Muslims and Christians for their ruling of India. In their agenda, ethnic cleansing of Muslims is also included…the extremist mindset and ideology of Hindus was responsible for killing of Mahatma Gandhi. This ideology also showed its ugly face in Gujarat carnage of Muslims…the intensity of violence against Muslims in Occupied Kashmir during the last five years is also due to this fanatic ideology”.

The premier also warned that Pakistan will respond with full force, if India launches any aggression against Pakistan, and said, “not only our valiant armed forces, but the whole nation is ready to defend the motherland”.

Taking cognizance of revoking special status of the Jummu and Kashmir by New Delhi, including restrictions on the Kashmiris, Pakistan celebrated its Independence Day on August 14 in showing solidarity with the Kashmiris and observed Indian Independence Day on August 15 as the Black Day in Pakistan.

It is because of joint efforts of Pakistan and China that the United Nations Security Council will hold a session to discuss the situation in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir and India’s decision to revoke the special status of occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Friday (August 16, 20119).

Undoubtedly, we can conclude that India converted Kashmir into concentration camps.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com