Pakistan Says It Will Not Discuss Its Nuclear Program With the IMF

Pakistan's political crisis has taken an unexpected turn. The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has started to question whether the country’s nuclear program is under pressure as part of the ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The PTI, which has been demanding early general elections, shifted the focus of its anti-government campaign to the nuclear issue when International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi visited Pakistan in mid-February to discuss peaceful applications of nuclear science and technology. 

Since that visit, the PTI leadership and its workers are demanding to know whether Grossi’s visit was part of an effort to undermine Pakistan’s nuclear program. 

According to several senior government officials, Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is not only “fool-proof” but it also cannot be compromised under any circumstances. Speaking in the Senate, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said that no demand was being made by anyone to force Pakistan into abandoning its long-range nuclear missile program. Similarly, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that “the misleading speculations about Pakistan’s nuclear and missile program are unfortunate.” 

“The stringent, fool-proof, and multi-layered security safeguards, duly testified by IAEA, are in place,” he stressed. 

The IMF too has rejected reports that the ongoing talks included a discussion of Pakistan’s nuclear program. “Regarding recent speculation that program discussions with the authorities for the ninth review under the IMF-supported program may have covered Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, I want to be categoric that there is absolutely no truth to this or any insinuated link between the past or current IMF supported program and decision by any Pakistani government over its nuclear program,” the IMF’s resident representative in Islamabad, Esther Perez Ruiz, said.

Discussions with Pakistan, according to Ruiz, are solely focused on economic policies to solve the county’s balance of payments problems, “in line with the Fund's mandate for promoting macroeconomic and financial stability.”

Asked recently by the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee if he was confident of Pakistan's nuclear security procedures, CENTCOM Commander Gen Michael E. Kurilla replied that he is “confident [of] their nuclear security procedures.”

It is widely acknowledged globally that Pakistan has a robust command and control system that ensures the safety of its strategic arsenal, which has never been questioned or undermined domestically by anyone because it has been embraced by a national consensus.  

Although these verifications and ratifications have been made, the nuclear issue continues to be discussed in the media through misleading headlines, social media posts, and remarks by political leaders at all levels. 

There are two key reasons why the issue has gained traction in the Pakistani media now. Perhaps the government felt it is necessary to make a statement regarding the security of the ballistic missile program because some have attempted to link matters of security to Pakistan’s financial problems. In addition to conveying that the country won’t compromise on its nuclear program, the government’s statement was also an attempt to counter the PTI’s propaganda on the issue, as the PTI pushes to portray the ruling coalition as incompetent and compromised in order to appeal to voters. 

The government’s response has been equally political while reassuring Pakistanis about the nuclear program. The ruling coalition’s response can be categorized as emotional and reactionary rather than a measured policy statement. Days after making a statement in the Senate that seemed to snub a call for Pakistan to abandon its long-range nuclear missile program, the finance minister said his comments had been misinterpreted and “quoted out of context.” 

These developments point to the gravity of Pakistan’s political crisis that has gotten out of hand.

For instance, the PTI-led opposition has been so insistent in its demands for explanations that the government was forced to clarify that neither the IMF nor anyone else was asking Pakistan to curb its nuclear program. It appears that the issue here is not that anybody is asking Pakistan scale back its nuclear weapons, but rather that the issue, which has been non-controversial, is being discussed at a time when the country is in a political deadlock. 

Even though all political parties agree that the nuclear program should be protected at all costs, they continue to question each other’s motives, leaving the impression that someone will make a compromise on it. 

While Pakistani political leaders bicker over who is more sincere about the country’s nuclear program, the world is watching. The current political crisis has continued for a long time and has begun to include issues that are not supposed to be discussed in the public domain. With a number of important issues in the economic and security arena challenging Pakistan’s leadership, the last thing they want is to convey to the world that the country lacks unity over the nuclear program.