By Laraib Nadeem

The action- fiction -packed Bollywood film “Mission Majnu” was trolled online for stereotyping Pakistani characters and geographical landmarks in its portrayal of undercover spy Malhotra as a righteous Indian citizen on a mission to “neutralise” Pakistan’s nuclear power plant. It was watched around the globe but it was hate-watched in Pakistan where people called it a “distortion of facts”. After acquiring information on the covert nuclear site, he defeats scores of Pakistani soldiers by himself. The Sikh main character, who dies in a firefight after yelling "Hail Mother India," atones for his rebel father's treachery at the end. Poor story, poor execution and even poor research.

Bollywood has always been influenced by India's political changes; the romanticism and optimism of the newly independent state were portrayed in the 1950s' films, while the hero of the 1970s was a proud but disenfranchised citizen against the rich and corrupt. Numerous movies portraying neo-liberal fashionistas who lived in Dubai, partied in London nightclubs, and drove flashy Mercedes were made in the 1990s. Now, Bollywood has gladly accepted Narendra Modi's frightening politics ever since he and his right-wing party, the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Did India really try to take out Pakistan’s nascent nuclear weapons programme in the 1970s? No. India’s top nuclear brains believed an economically poor Pakistan didn’t have industrial base or capability to work with gas centrifuges. India tested its first nuclear bomb in 1974, less than 3 years after Pakistan lost its eastern wing, which became Bangladesh. The feeling of helplessness was immense in Islamabad & Pakistan’s PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto felt the need to act. Bhutto had already expressed Pakistan’s willingness to make a bomb in his famous interview to Manchester Guardian in 1965 - “If India makes an atom bomb, then even if we have to feed on grass and leaves — or even if we have to starve — we shall also produce an atom bomb”.

New Delhi had taken the plutonium route to make its bomb. In mid-1970s Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan came back to Pakistan from Europe with German gas centrifuge design. Pakistan built its research nuclear research facility at Kahuta, not far from Islamabad. It was top secret. Even though it was close to border with India, it was surrounded by hills. Also, it made commute for scientists easy. Having just the centrifuge design wasn’t enough. Centrifuges rotate twice the speed of sound to separate U-235 from U-238 isotope. It wasn’t foreign governments that undermined Pakistan’s initial attempts to enrich uranium; It was the frequent earthquakes. Abdul Qadeer Khan and others don’t get a lot of credit for achieving the incredible feat of stabilizing centrifuges as they rotated at super critical speeds.

In mid-1978 Pakistan finally succeeded in working a centrifuge. From here it was race to enrich it & India had no idea. Contrary to claims made in Mission Majnu, Pakistan extracted uranium locally from Baghal Chur area of the Dera Ghazi Khan district & was able to produce uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas via tech acquired from Europe. Cover over Pakistan’s clandestine nuclear programme blew up in March 1979 when German TV ZDG ran a documentary on Abdul Qadeer Khan’s so-called network of suppliers. It was a mix of fact and fiction, which introduced the catchphrase of ‘Islamic Bomb’. While Indian military was alarmed, New Delhi’s scientists dismissed Pakistan’s achievement, saying Pakistan didn’t even have any metallurgical industry.

“The Brahminical contempt for the abilities of Pakistan’s scientists and engineers also was intensified by the difficulties India’s well-educated had in trying to master large-scale uranium enrichment,” wrote George Perkovish in his seminal book ‘India’s Nuclear Bomb’.

If any country did try to undermine Pakistan’s attempt, it was Israel. European executives who sold critical parts and components to Abdul Qadeer Khan were targeted with letter bombs and threats. In 1981, Israeli jets destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak. This gave an idea to some Indian military officials including the hawkish Lieutenant General Krishnaswami Sundarji to replicate the raid. But experts such as Sumit Ganguly of Indiana University Bloomington said they found no evidence of that being considered seriously. But as per the myth, India had its Jaguar jets on standby to attack Kahuta.

Perhaps the real crisis where Indian military actually came close to a war on the matter of Kahuta was in 1987 during the infamous Exercise Brasstacks when Indian mobilized 400,000 soldiers in Rajasthan. That happened two years after Operation Blue Star when Indian military attacked the Golden Temple to drive out Sikh insurgents. While the issue was India’s domestic problem, it blamed Islamabad of backing Sikh separatists.

Pakistan and India reached an agreement in the middle of the 1990s pledging not to strike each other's nuclear facilities. Then, in 1998, both sides carried out nuclear tests, making a nuclear strike against each other a foregone conclusion.

But, reality doesn’t sell right? The hysterical India media continues to exploit facts and twists them into fiction. This is their state sponsored business which they proudly continue to present and sell. India’s obsession with Pakistan did not give them fruitful results as it was debunked by some sane voices from Pakistan which caught the attention of international community. If they don’t stop this pattern, they will be further ridiculed by the world, and the world will witness itself!!