2024-09-19 07:55:30
Islamabad/Dhaka: The ongoing turmoil in Bangladesh has brought Pakistan’s nuclear bomb into discussion. Recently, a professor of Dhaka University has talked about making Bangladesh nuclear capable. Professor Shahiduzzaman has talked about making a nuclear treaty with Pakistan for this. The professor described Pakistan as Bangladesh’s most trusted ally. This statement has started fueling discussions whether Bangladesh is on the path of becoming a nuclear power? Along with this, a question also arises that will Pakistan help the same Bangladesh on whose land Pakistan suffered a shameful defeat, to make it nuclear capable today. But today we will not talk about Pakistan-Bangladesh relations, but about Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, how Islamabad acquired nuclear weapons and what role did the creation of Bangladesh play in this.
Bhutto’s desire for an atomic bomb
It is widely believed that the humiliating defeat of 1971 was the main reason why Pakistan decided to develop nuclear weapons. ‘We will not have to suffer such humiliation again’ – this became the main sentiment behind Pakistan’s pursuit of the atomic bomb. But this was not the only reason. While citing the defeat of Bangladesh as the main reason, we should not forget the name of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Bhutto was the man who laid the foundation of Pakistan’s nuclear program out of hatred for India. Bhutto spearheaded the idea of nuclear weapons for Pakistan.
Many years before the Bangladesh war, Bhutto had emerged as the biggest propagandist of nuclear weapons. Bhutto was among those who were closely monitoring the debate on making a bomb in India. Any discussion of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb cannot be complete without Bhutto’s statement, which he gave during an interview with the Manchester Guardian in 1965. Bhutto had said, ‘If India makes a nuclear bomb, even if we have to eat grass and leaves, stay hungry, we will also make a nuclear bomb. We will have no other option. The only answer to a nuclear bomb can be a nuclear bomb.’
Bhutto’s efforts prior to the Bangladesh War
However, Bhutto did not wait for India to make the bomb. Before this, he sent nuclear scientist Munir Ahmad Khan to convince President Ayub Khan on the atomic bomb. Munir failed to convince Ayub. Bhutto’s plan may have failed but his resolve did not weaken. On 20 December 1971, Bhutto became the President of Pakistan and in January 1972, he called a meeting of the scientists of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in Multan. It is clear that Bhutto took this step after the defeat in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). But it would not be wrong to say that if Bhutto had come to power before 1971, he would have started the weapons program even before the shameful defeat.
Bangladesh’s defeat gave Bhutto an opportunity
The military defeat against Bangladesh certainly started Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, but Bhutto’s obstinacy was more responsible for it. The creation of Bangladesh allowed Bhutto to come to power and it started Pakistan’s path to the atomic bomb. In 1998, 27 years after the humiliating defeat of Bangladesh, Pakistan conducted five nuclear tests and joined the select group of countries with nuclear weapons.