Fanatics won't come by n-weapons: Musharraf

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, OCT. 16 The Pakistan Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, has ruled out the possibility of nuclear weapons in his country falling into the hands of religious fanatics and asserted that they are ``extremely secure''.

Talking to the American television network, CBS, he has sought to dispel the impression that the generals who seized power in October last are beholden to Islamic radicals and that militant fundamentalists could end up controlling the nuclear weapons.

In the same programme, the outgoing commander of the U.S. forces in South Asia, Gen. Anthony Zinni, has been quoted as saying it is very possible that the nuclear weapons will wind up in the hands of extremist religious groups.

Mr. John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists has told the network that Pakistan's nuclear programme is bigger than what Washington has publicly acknowledged. He estimates that it has 25 to 35 nuclear bombs.

``There is no other country where 1,00,000 well-armed militant fundamentalists could end up controlling nuclear weapons - what some people might call the Islamic bomb'', the programme said.

In another development, Dr. Qadeer Khan, architect of the nuclear programme, has said Pakistanis may differ on the military regime's performance, but few would contest the speed with which it moved to put in place security systems around the nuclear and missile arsenal.

Dr. Khan commenting on the one-year military rule, has said ``Gen. Musharraf was cognisant of the international community's apprehensions about nuclear weapons.

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