Notes on the Nodong-Ghauri Missile Handover Ceremony at Khan Research Labs Complex

Jyoti Arya

Introduction

On January 9 2003, General Pervez Musharraf, dictator of Pakistan, in a high-profile ceremony handed over a Ghauri-Nodong type ballistic missile to the Pakistan Army. The missile was quoted as being “nuclear capable” and a lot publicity was given to the ceremony. Analysts have suggested that this public handover ceremony was an attempt by Musharraf to even the score after India announced the establishment of its Strategic Forces Command [i] and an crew attached to this command test-fired an Agni-I SR ballistic missile from Wheeler Island [ii].

This ceremony marks the second public appearance of the Ghauri missile within the space of six months. In earlier appearances a Ghauri-Nodong missile had been fired from the Pakistan Army’s Malute[iii] Army test range near Tilla Jogian[iv] in Jhelum[v]. In May 2001, the Pakistani Army had conducted a series of public tests of the Ghauri, Shaheen and Haider missiles[vi]. 

Image 1: Ghauri launch being setup at Tilla Jogian near Jhelum in May 1999. Source www.fas.org

The Ghauri also made an appearance with all the other Pakistani missiles on the Pakistan Day parade on March 23 1999[vii]. However it is not the only long-range missile in Pakistani possession, the Shaheen-2 missile, which has comparable range to the Ghauri, was displayed at the Pakistan Day parade on March 23, 2000[viii].

Image 2: Ghauri missile on launcher at Pakistani Day celebrations on 23 March 1999. Source: www.acq.osd.mil

Image 3: Shaheen-2 missile displayed on Pakistan Day celebrations on March 23, 2000. The launcher is a MAZ-543 variant. Source: www.fas.org

As stated earlier most western analysts place any display of Pakistani military prowess in the solely in the context of Indian missile developments. As this “equal-equal” or “hyphenated” paradigm continues to be in vogue today, it is entirely possible that the international community will miss a very subtle and highly destabilizing issue that the current Ghauri display highlights. This article briefly reviews the developments and views surrounding the Ghauri missile and then analyses the statements of General Pervez Musharraf and other key Pakistani leaders and hopes to point out a very subtle, destabilizing thread in current events. 

Notes on the Ghauri Missile

Public claims place the range of the Ghauri at ~ 1000 Km. In the past the Pakistanis have used the Ghauri to indicate the ability to strike deep into India’s landmass[ix]. Most news analysts linked its appearance at the Pakistan Day parade in 1998 and later in 1999 to corresponding missile displays and tests by India. 

According to experts in the field, the Ghauri is a version of the Nodong series of missiles first made by North Korea[x]. The Federation of American Scientists, a non-governmental think tank has an informative chart[xi] of the Ghauri’s technical aspects. This is reproduced below for easy reference.

Estimates of the number of Ghauri missiles in the Pakistani inventory range in the tens. It is generally believed that the last set of missile tests conducted in May 2002, were effected by fully trained crews of the Pakistani Army’s Strategic Force Command. At that time several writers had highlighted the role played by North Korea in transferring the Ghauri design to the Pakistanis[xii]. This issue had cropped up several times in the saga of the Ghauri missile.

Right after the missile’s first appearance, Prof. Chandrashekhar had pointed to its North Korean origins[xiii]. Soon after other Indian analysts like B. Raman had indicated that the missiles had been obtained clandestinely from North Korea via China or by sea from North Korean ports[xiv]. The Indian analysts always suspected that the Pakistanis were giving the North Koreans nuclear weapons technology as part of a barter agreement for missile technology[xv].  Indian analysts also indicated that Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, also called the “Father of the Pakistani Nuclear Bomb”, was a major node in this clandestine nuclear exchange.  It may be recalled that during the 1970s Dr. Khan took over a Pakistani Government facility called the Explosives Research Lab (ERL) at Kahuta. Throughout the 1980s Dr. Khan and the personnel of ERL were found to be involved in several instances of nuclear technology smuggling[xvi]. In 1981 the Pakistani Government of Gen. Zia ul Haq re-named the ERL lab at Kahuta, “Khan Research Labs” in the honor of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan[xvii]. 

Image 4: Photo of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan taken in 1998 at the Chagai Hills test site a few hours before the Pakistani Nuclear tests. Source: cns.miis.edu

More recently it has emerged that the Indian suspicions about the Pakistani-North Korean ties were true. Press reports in the west now routinely speak about the missiles for bombs agreement that the Pakistanis had with the North Koreans[xviii].

After 1998 many reports emerging in the press had spoken about increased imports of missile parts from North Korea[xix] and from this and other intelligence inputs analysts concluded that the Ghauri missle arrived in some sort of SKD (Semi-Knocked Down) Kit form from North Korea and was then assembled at a workshop attached to Khan Research Labs (KRL) at Kahuta[xx]. For their part the Pakistanis spared no opportunity to let the world know that they had in stock a large numbers of the missiles that could be quickly assembled. In an interview to the Voice of America on June 01, 1998, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan said [xxi]

“We had tested this (GHAURI) missile system for a long time. It is in best production, in serial production, so there are enough missiles, we just wanted to give a demonstration, the missile has been tested earlier but we want to give a demonstration of its capability to the world. “

This utterance indicates a high degree of confidence in the quality of the North Korean product. The Pakistanis for one were satisfied with the design and what they had paid for it.

It is difficult to see the Ghauri program as anything but a direct product of highly internationally destabilizing technology transfers. Therefore the Ghauri and Khan Research Labs are synonymous in the lexicon of “South Asia” with rampant Pakistani WMD proliferation.         

Analysis of statements by the Pakistani leaders at the recent event

The ceremony held on January 9. 2003 was not very different from the ones in the past. President General Pervez Musharraf accepted the Ghauri system on behalf of the Pakistan Army’s Strategic Force Command at Kahuta. Top army officers, scientists and engineers of Dr AQ Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) attended the special ceremony [xxii]. Among those present is believed to be Gen. Muhammed Azis Khan CJCSC of the Pakistan Army, Gen. Begami Mohammed Yusuf Khan VCOAS of the Pakistan Army, and Lt. Gen Ghulam Mustafa, the commander of the Army Strategic Force[xxiii]. 

Image 5: Pakistani President at Khan Research Labs on Jan 8th 2003, Source www.yahoo.com .

There ceremony began with a welcome address by Chairman KRL Dr. Javed Ashraf Mirza. Soon afterwards, a Ghauri Missile placed on a missile caddy was taken out from a camouflaged shed at KRL and driven past the dais. This was done to symbolize a handover of the missile to the Pakistan Army.  Musharraf was also presented a model of the ballistic missile by Chairman KRL Dr Javed Ashraf Mirza. 

Image 6: Ghauri Missile rolls out of assembly hall at workshop at Khan Research Labs. Source www.yahoo.com

After the handover ceremony was over, General Musharraf rose to give the assembled gathering a speech. In his speech he spoke highly of the achievements of the scientists of the Khan Research Laboratory,

“The patriotism, dedication and technical prowess of our scientists and engineers have made Pakistan a nuclear power with accurate and assured delivery systems, which had been put through a number of technical trials successfully,"

Later he added that the untiring efforts of the Pakistani scientists had given

" Pakistan a strategic capability and strengthened its national security."

“The achievements of KRL in the twin fields of uranium enrichment and missile development were a source of indomitable strength to the nation and its leadership.”

On the issue of allegations of nuclear and missile technology transactions with North Korea and other rogue states, General Musharraf was dismissive,

"It was a sinister, smear campaign to denigrate and malign our national heroes and Pakistan’s clean record by hostile lobbies, who have always been inimical to Pakistan’s status as a nuclear power. We are a responsible nation and are aware of our international obligations. Our command and control structures, which have been in place for four years now, are watertight. We reject all such malicious stories and allegations comprehensively."

On the topic of deterrence General Musharraf’s comments were

“The deterrence capability was developed through Pakistan’s dedicated indigenous efforts and the nation had rendered sacrifices for it. Its sole purpose was deterrence against aggression and defense of our sovereignty. This is a proud day for me,  to accept the Ghauri system on behalf of the Army’s Strategic Force Command. The Ghauri symbolizes national resolve and its induction in the strategic forces would radiate the necessary effects of deterrence.”

After General Musharraf concluded his speech, Chairman KRL Dr. Javed Ashraf Mirza also gave a speech. In his speech he covered some technical aspects of the missile manufacture. He concluded by congratulating the scientists and saying that

“KRL thrived on challenges and would continue its proud traditions”

After the ceremony was over the press corps was taken to another facility most likely the launch area at Tilla Jogian near Malute[xxiv] where they were shown another Ghauri missile. The press was told that it was in a “ready-to-fire” condition. Somewhere along the way to the “launch facility”, the reporters were also told that the Ghauri was in “indigenous serial production”.

Image 7: Ghauri Missile unit is set up for launch at Tilla Jogian, a location near KRL complex. Source www.yahoo.com

In a message on the same day, Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali also extended his congratulations to the Pakistan Army for having taken possession of the missiles and he paid tributes to the scientists and staff at KRL. 

Conclusions

International analysts may be tempted to place the  “serial production” of the Ghauri in the context of previous statements about the same. These statements were generally taken to allude to Pakistan’s ability to repeatedly strike deep into India to offset India’s strategic depth[xxv]. Such an analysis is likely to find favor among the “South Asian Regional Stability” pundits.

What seems obvious from the “handover” is that the Pakistanis despite all their claims had really not “inducted” the Ghauri and it was not in “serial production”. The open admission of this nature is likely to be a bit frustrating to all those analysts who until recently for various reasons chose to exaggerate Pakistani missile capability [xxvi].

Some analysts may even be tempted to dismiss this entire “handover” as yet another Pakistani show, put on to “save face” when confronted with a massive upswing of the Indian nuclear posture. This idea is bound to find a constituency among several Indians. 

However neither of these views can truly encompass the gravity the development before us. Pan-Islamists with the Pakistan Army always saw the Ghauri as vehicle for Pakistan’s strategic independence. To them the Ghauri is a way of simultaneously challenging Indian notions of security in strategic depth and Western ideas about Pakistani malleability. An opinion piece written for the Defense Journal in May 1998 by Lt. Gen. (r) Javed Nasir, a former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency makes for instructive reading of the “dual” nature of the Ghauri. In this piece Lt. Gen. (r) Nasir writes:

“One may tend to forgive us for not believing in Quran because we don't study it and those of us who study it do not understand it (overwhelming majority). But what is most ironical, that we do not believe even in what US has openly declared. The response is always to the perceived threat in its totality. Whereas Islam has been identified as the sole threat that the US is to cater for, Islam has replaced communism in US officially declared perception. Its mentor Israel has gone a step further by defining within Islam, countries encouraging fundamentalism as the real threat and Pakistan has been put on top of the list in this context. The Western authors make no secret about it. Ian Simpscon, Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, Golda Mayer and scores of others have all defined Islam as the threat of the 21st Century. How can therefore these non-believers be our friends? We must therefore do every thing necessary for the security of our country with indigenous capability.”

When read carefully the utterances of Pervez Musharraf and the KRL Chairman leave little to doubt that Pakistan does not intend to abandon its “indigenous capacity”.

In the past it may have been possible to ignore what this could mean, however with the present crises brewing in Iraq and North Korea one cannot be so blasé about it.

It is impossible to ignore that the Ghauri missile “handover” ceremony was conducted at a time when KRL and its personnel were under a cloud internationally for a number of WMD and missile transfers. By choosing this laboratory and the Ghauri missile to project Pakistan’s “deterrence” capability, General Musharraf has placed his personal seal of approval on all of KRL’s dirty deals.

This “handover” ceremony has nothing to do with “handing over” a missile to the Pakistani army. The Pakistani army probably has plenty of missiles. This ceremony is a metaphor, used by General Musharraf to indicate that he is willing to support the clandestine transfer of WMD and the means to deliver them.

In a previously written biography of General Musharraf, this author had indicated that there is a marked similarity between the personality of General Musharraf and that of an urban Mafioso. This latest media stunt on January 9 2003, at Tilla Jogian fits into that profile exactly. `Don’ Musharraf has pretty much just told us that not only is he willing to shoot his nuclear tipped missiles at India, he is also willing to continue handing over his nuclear weapons to North Korea and Iraq so that they can use them on Americans and South Koreans.

References