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WASHINGTON: Fearful of a surprise US raid, Pakistan is shuffling its nuclear arsenal frequently in low security vans on congested roads, making them more vulnerable to snatch by Islamic terror groups.
 
Nuclear bombs capable of destroying entire cities are being transported in delivery vans on congested and often unmarked roads to hide them from the US, the country that funds much of Pakistan’s military budget, two US magazines reported.
 
The Atlantic and the National Journal, in a joint report said that Pakistan’s Strategic Plants division , which is charged with safeguarding Pakistani nukes has been ordered to shuffle the arsenal often to keep the location of nuclear weapons and components hidden from US and India.
 
Quoting US and Pakistani sources, the journals said the US raid killing Osama bin Laden had provoked anxiety among the Pakistani army about their weapons leading to increasing the pace of movements of the arsenal.
 
Before the US raid Pakistanis were moving the nuclear weapon components by helicopter and in armoured well defended convoys, but now the SPD was indulging in subterfuge , by moving the war heads in civilian vehicles.
 
US intelligence officials said that Pakistanis were not only using low security methods not only to transfer merely "de-mated" components, but also "mated" nuclear weapons, raising widespread concerns in the west. The nuclear experts are more worried as Pakistan is now building small tactical N-weapons for quick deployment.
 Civilian aid to Pak will go on: Hillary

Arguing that disengagement with Pakistan is not an option, the US has said its civilian aid to Islamabad would continue despite unease in bilateral ties. "As our commanders on the ground will attest, it is critical to our broader strategy that civilian assistance continue in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Disengaging now would undermine our military and political efforts and the national security interests of the US," secretary of state Hillary Clinton said.

Twice in a year, man hurls shoe at Musharraf

Aman attempted to hurl a shoe at Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf while he was addressing a a group of Kashmiris in Luton, near London, according to a media report on Saturday. The man attempted to hurl shoe at Musahrraf but was taken out of the venue by security guards. Another man who was in the gathering shouted slogans against Musharraf, who has been living in self-exile outside Pakistan since early 2009. This was the second such incident this year involving Musharraf, who quit as president in 2008 to avoid being impeached by the Pakistan People’s Party-led government.