Hyderabad, August 23: The United States is concerned over nuclear weapons falling into the hands of Islamic terrorists, what with Pakistan being a nuclear power.
“Though we have no evidence, we strongly believe that al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorist organisations might be trying to lay their hands on nuclear weapons,’’ says Dr Stephen Burgess, associate professor in the Department of International Security Studies in Air War College, which is part of AIR University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, USA.
“Osama bin Laden wants to use weapons of mass destruction. Our concern is the jihadi elements might get access to nuclear weapons,’’ he said in an interview to Express. Though he thinks that al Qaeda is on the defensive now, one never knows until an attack happens.
“Then only we would know how foolproof our preparations were against terror,’’ Burgess says and adds that to frustrate such attempts, enough care should be taken to guard the nuclear facilities.
He, however, says the United States trusts Pakistan in its professions to continue the campaign against the Islamic terrorists.
Dr Burgess who is India to deliver talks at various institutions in the backdrop of India signing the civil nuclear deal with the US, says as far as his country is concerned, it has been stepping up pressure on Pakistan to deal with terrorists.
After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, there is support for efforts to deal with terror, he says but in a different context admits that it is very difficult to separate political Islam from extremist Islam as they tend to overlap. It is easier said than done, but it has to be done to isolate the extremist elements, he says.
Dr Burgess, however, says it is difficult to be 100 per cent fool-proof in preparations against terror strikes. “We cannot ensure security to every one in the world,’’ he says but underlines the fact that after September 11 attacks in the US, preparedness to deal with terror is much more than what it used to be in the past.
Dr Burgess thinks that dealing with terror is a process that had to be updated continuously as the enemy always dreams up better and effective methods to strike. “We have to be at least two steps ahead of the enemy to have an upper hand over him. We should be able to predict where the terrorist would strike next,’’ he says. Not only in the US, but across the world, there is better intelligence sharing among the governments who are keen on campaign against terror and there are enough resources to support the programmes in this direction.
This apart, the governments, particularly the US is well prepared as it had taken advantage of technology in designing electronic surveillance systems that could monitor the activity of suspects.
This apart there are now better satellite imaging facilities to keep tabs on terrorists, he says.
As far as India is concerned, he thinks it is better placed now in dealing with terror after the Mumbai tragedy. “It is also taking the help of the US in bringing pressure on Pakistan to dismantle the terrorist training camps and deal with the terrorists with an iron hand. This is the best way to insulate India against terrorist attacks. Bringing pressure on Pakistan by showing to the entire world the evidence it has that terrorists were being trained in Pakistan would deliver results,’’ Burgess says.
He is not very sure if the problem of terrorist financing in various countries has been dealt with as effectively as it was done in the US “In our country, we have put in place fool-proof measures.
There is no way money from terror outfits could find its way into, say, stock markets,’’ he says but admits he does not know if it is the case in India, or for that matter in Sri Lanka where it is said that Sri Lankan stock exchange is destination for LTTE’s money.
—Agencies