Answers

Wow,

A government telling the truth, will wonders never cease?

They must want an IMF bailout......

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), November 29, 1999.

"The defense people don't talk," said Khawaja. "But the message we are getting is that they are ready and that they have taken care of everything."

Yep, they turned over the keys to Saddam. HE'LL know what to do with them! EVERYTHING IS TAKEN CARE OF, SEE? Sheesh!

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), November 29, 1999.

---well, wargamers? whatchoo think? Use it or lose it scenario? What is India's status now, anyway? Don't recall a relevant link lately. Paks been getting chinese and N.korean hardware, they got IRBM's, an obviously some decent planes, 16's if I remember correctly. Will they take a chance? Anyone get Jane's good stuff? thoughts?

pondering zog

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), November 29, 1999.

Pakistan rolls over at 1400 ET (2pm), along with lots of other 'stans and parts of Russia. I'm thinking that's when the fireworks begin. After that, it's all of Europe and then across the pond.

The only question is: How long before their 'disruptions' cause them to get cranky enough to start popping off rockets?

-- semper paratus (always@ready.now), November 29, 1999.

Now what does this say about India's situation? Also, if you could believe your enemy's public statements about Y2K readiness, would this not give India the window to "try out" their latest hardware on their hated neighbor?

Or vice versa?

This could be just ONE of the tete-a-tete exchanges we could see as the world turns through its 24 time zones.

GOT NUKES?

GOT BIO?

GOT Y2K BUGS?

-- profit of doom (doom@helltopay.ca), November 29, 1999.

Unstable military government, unbelievable poverty, major y2k problems and a third world country with nuclear weapons. Pakistan has it all!

-- Rich (rubeliever@webtv.net), November 29, 1999.

Rich;

You talking about Pakistan or Russia?

-- Not Whistlin' Dixie (not_whistlin_dixie@yahoo.com), November 29, 1999.

Pakistan is the AGGRESSOR.

-- Nukes (bristling@India.USA), November 29, 1999.

We don't see India and Pakistan manning a joint command post to prevent accidental nuclear launches, do we?

The odds of a peaceful start of next year don't seem that good to me.

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), November 29, 1999.

Well, gosh. Great minds on this post are all thinking alike. Got checkbook? This is probably the beginning of a lot of IMF or U.S. direct related bailout. And it always works so well, and they love us for it....

Good Catch, Dog Gone.

-- Nancy (wellsnl@hotmail.com), November 29, 1999.

A joint command center would be a jole in this case. India and Pakistan are so close together that by the time they got a dial tone the missiles would have already impacted. This is definitely not the place to vacation during rollover, or any other time.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y2000.com), November 29, 1999.

Profit O' Doom-

How's about "Got KI?"

-- (cavscout@inmy.bunkernow), November 29, 1999.

Hold your breath, the gov may can this article's source and issue a correction.

-- nonsensical (nn@nnn.not), November 29, 1999.

nonsensical how right you are
First issue

 Pakistan Not Ready for Y2K Bug

Second issue

Pakistan Not Ready for Y2K Bug

Pakistan Not Ready for Y2K Bug

By Kathy Gannon
Associated Press Writer
Monday, Nov. 29, 1999; 3:18 p.m. EST

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ­­ Pakistan is not prepared for the millennium computer bug and could face a severe disruption of vital services, the head of the country's Y2K team warned Monday.

Ijaz Khawaja said none of Pakistan's airports have fully converted their equipment and computers to guarantee a smooth transition when computer clocks turn from 1999 to 2000.

Moreover, the power grid in Pakistan's largest city and life- sustaining devices at most hospitals could fail.

"First we had no money. Then we found the money, but we had no people. And now if you could give me all the money and all the people, we don't have enough time," Khawaja told The Associated Press.

International analysts generally classify Pakistan among the bulk of developing countries in terms of Y2K readiness ­ with a moderate risk of serious disruption of unforeseeable scope and duration.

But Pakistan's situation is in one sense singular: It has just been jolted by a military coup.

Pakistan's Y2K preparation was painfully slow under Premier Nawaz Sharif's tenure. When the military deposed him and took control on Oct. 12, all Y2K efforts froze, Khawaja said.

He said the nation's financial institutions, telecommunications and rail system are Y2K compliant. And the Civil Aviation Authority promises the airports will be ready by the end of the first week in December.

"But that doesn't give much time for testing, and we're still not sure that they will be able to meet that deadline," he said. The airports have missed every deadline so far, beginning with a Sept. 30 deadline when airports worldwide were to be Y2K compliant.

The national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines, may ground all its flights from 6 p.m. Dec. 31 until noon on Jan. 1, Khawaja said.

"Aviation is an area of very grave concern to us," he said.

Elsewhere, the Karachi Electric Company has been unable to fix one of its main generating stations to ensure it won't have problems. The company supplies electricity to Karachi, the industrial and manufacturing heart of Pakistan and the home to 14 million people. The problem could black out the entire city, Khawaja said.

The contingency plan is to supply Karachi from the national power grid. There is enough surplus electricity available, but Khawaja said the request will have to be made well before Dec. 31.

Much of the equipment in government-run hospitals is not threatened by the millennium bug because it does not contain computer chips. But some is at risk, and "much of that equipment is life-sustaining," Khawaja said.

"We're telling hospitals to make alternate arrangements now if they have equipment about which they are not sure," he said.

Khawaja said his team received full assurances from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission that Pakistan's one nuclear power plant is ready for Y2K.

But there was no information from the defense establishment in Pakistan, which last year declared itself a nuclear-weapons state.

"The defense people don't talk," said Khawaja. "But the message we are getting is that they are ready and that they have taken care of everything."

© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press

-- Spinning on the post (Spin@top.post), November 30, 1999.

 Pakistan Warns of India Nukes
 

Pakistan Warns of India Nukes

By Kathy Gannon
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Nov. 25, 1999; 2:28 p.m. EST

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ­­ Pakistan wants a minimal nuclear deterrent, but warned Thursday that India's ambition to develop a "massive" nuclear arsenal guarantees that there will be more nuclear weapons in volatile South Asia.

Abdul Sattar, foreign minister in the new military government, addressed a day-long seminar on nuclear policy, saying that what Pakistan needs to maintain as a "minimum" deterrence will be decided by the actions of neighboring India.

Sattar accused India of seeking to develop a "massive arsenal of nuclear weapons and delivery systems."

"Pakistan will have to maintain, preserve and upgrade its capability" in keeping with India's buildup, Sattar said. But he said Pakistan won't try to match India weapon for weapon.

Sattar also said Pakistan won't sign the global test ban treaty unless there is a consensus among Pakistanis, most of whom appear to oppose it.

Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh said Thursday in Tokyo that India's nuclear arms program is not targeted at any particular country, and is meant solely to enhance the country's strategic autonomy.

India in the past has said it will use nuclear weapons only to retaliate against a first strike. India hasn't quantified the kind of nuclear arsenal it wants to possess and talks in vague terms.

A draft nuclear doctrine by India's National Security Advisory Board says the size, components, deployment and employment of nuclear forces would be decided in light of the strategic environment, economic imperatives and the needs of national security.

Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi reportedly told Singh on Wednesday that Tokyo will continue to halt aid until India signs the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

But Singh said India's decision on whether to sign the treaty will not be influenced by the question of financial aid from Japan. The decision, he said, "will be made by India by Indians in Delhi."

South Asia's uneasy neighbors conducted tit-for-tat underground nuclear explosions last year and declared themselves nuclear powers. India and Pakistan have fought three wars since British rule of the Asian subcontinent ended in 1947 and Kashmir was divided between the two countries.

The flashpoint of two previous wars, Kashmir again last summer threatened to be the scene of a fourth ­ possibly nuclear ­ conflagration.

What occurred was a mini-war on the disputed Kashmir border. For the first time in 30 years, India used its fighter jets and its most sophisticated ground artillery to try to dislodge Pakistan-backed intruders that had occupied several Indian military posts across the border dividing Kashmir.

Pakistan eventually agreed to order the militants to withdraw, while insisting that the invading troops were Kashmiri "freedom fighters" seeking to unite Kashmir under the Pakistani flag. India said the intruders were Pakistani soldiers disguised as militants.

Speaking to reporters in Lucknow, India, on Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ruled out peace talks with Pakistan's military regime unless earlier accords are taken into consideration.

"Making new agreements and forgetting old ones makes little sense," Vajpayee said, referring to two agreements, one in 1972 in the Indian city of Shimla and the other last year in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

At Thursday's nuclear conference, Pakistan's former foreign minister, Agha Shahi, said India was using the summer battle in Kashmir to improve relations with the United States at Pakistan's expense.

He also said the danger of an accidental nuclear war in South Asia has increased because the political actions of one state are often misunderstood or misread by the other.

© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press

-- Me worry? (nukes@asia.00), November 30, 1999.

Like I posted earlier, sounds like we'll be seeing quite a bit of "velvet gloved blackmailing". How long do you think it'll take for Washington or the IMF to get a "request" from Pakistan for 'monetary assistance' to "keep the nukes secure for Y2K..."?

-- Deb M. (vmcclell@columbus.rr.com), November 30, 1999.

It's too bad that Reagan is in the rest home now...'The Gipper' woulda just told these shleprocks that if either of them decided to get squirrelly, that we'd bomb 'em back to the stone age. Jeez...what ever happened to the concept of "do what we tell you or we'll make you glow in the dark." Even the Russian republics do what they want... Kinda makes me long for the 'bad old days' of the Cold War...at least then we knew who that 'bad guys' were, and it could be counted onn that no one wanted to 'light that candle'

-- Billy Boy (Rakkasan@Yahoo.com), November 30, 1999.