SALIM MUST DIE by Mukul Deva

punished.’ Rao added gravely, ‘I leave it to you all to imagine what is going on.’
    He allowed the audience to dwell on that for a moment before he resumed.
    ‘To enable it to wage this so-called War on Terror, the Americans needed the moral, if not physical, support of the global community. This was essential to give them the moral high ground that they always hanker for. Towards this end several other like-minded governments joined them to set up the “Coalition of the Willing”. They not only helped to drown out the din of dissent on various international platforms, they even provided manpower and munitions. The Americans also needed lots of strategically sited bases in this part of the world. They found one such base in Pakistan.’
    ‘How can the Pakistanis help anyone fight terrorism?’ someone asked caustically.
    ‘They could shoot themselves!’ another retorted sarcastically.
    Several people in the room laughed.
    ‘The irony is that Pakistan proliferates nuclear technology to some of the same states that the Americans have nominated as diehard members of the Axis of Evil.’
    ‘That's poetic justice for you.’
    ‘I am sure all of you are right,’ Rao intervened quickly before the presentation deteriorated into a free-for-all. ‘Maybe that is why it surprised no one when a classified Pentagon document, the Nuclear Posture Review, presented to the Senate in February 2002 stressed that America must prepare for all possible contingencies, especially now when dozens of countries and even some terrorist groups are engaged in secret weapon development programs . In this landmark decision, which was coerced by a very hawkish US administration, the US Senate granted congressional approval to the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons. Now, suddenly, nuclear weapons were no longer a weapon of last resort as they had been during the cold war.’
    ‘That's nonsense! How can anyone believe that?’
    ‘I quite understand what you mean,’ Rao said. ‘Maybe you should all see this.’ He gestured to the unseen aide again and a video clip came up on the silent screen behind him. It showed a segment culled from a Pentagon briefing.
    ‘Mini-nukes – those with a yield of less than 5000 tons – are harmless to civilians because they explode underground .’ A preening Pentagon spokesman was addressing a hall full of media personnel.
    A stunned silence fell upon Rao's audience as the clip concluded. It lasted till the Air Chief commented, ‘Mind you, in terms of potential radioactive fallout, such mini-nukes constitute a significant part of the atom bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.’
    ‘True, sir.’ Rao took charge again. ‘But the fact remains that suddenly, in a truly fantastic piece of doublespeak, the Americans had begun to tout nuclear weapons as a means of building peace and preventing collateral damage . And this was only the beginning, because now the US administration actually prepared contingency plans for an offensive first strike with nuclear weapons not only against the so-called Axis of Evil – Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria and North Korea – but also against Russia, China and India.’
    ‘Why would they start targeting India? We're a non-aligned –’
    ‘That's not the issue here, sir,’ Rao cut in smoothly. ‘The fact is that America is fully aware of the fact that these three countries have the military, economic and geo-strategic potential to counter its influence… especially if they decide to stand together. As we know, all three are already starting to make the right noises, their differences notwithstanding.’
    ‘How much of this is conjecture and how much reality?’ the Defence Minister questioned suddenly.
    ‘All of it is real, sir. As you will note, precisely one year after this, the Americans began their march down the road to war by targeting Iraq. America used their favourite they-have-weapons-of-mass-destruction-and-are-a-threat-to-global-peace excuse.’
    ‘That is