Pakistan reactor was bomb target — report

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 7

Pakistan reactor was bomb target — report

NZPA-AP Tel Aviv Israel went to India three times to propose a joint attack on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons reactor but was turned down each time, according to a report in the “Jerusalem Post.” The front-page report by the newspaper’s London correspondent, David Horowitz, quoted unidentified “top-level political analysts” in the British capital. The report said the proposals were made in recent years, but did not elaborate. India’s Air Force is incapable of bombing the reactor at Kahuta outside Islamabad with sufficient accuracy to insure its destruction, but Israel’s Air Force could do the job, the analysts were quoted

as saying. The report said Israel was provided with detailed satellite photographs and other topsecret United States intelligence concerning the plant by Jonathan Jay Pollard, the U.S. civilian naval intelligence analyst convicted of spying for Israel. The “Jerusalem Post” reported in an exclusive story last week that Pollard provided Israel with more than 1000 secret United States documents of major importance. These included photos of the Pakistan reactor, information about Soviet naval movements in the Mediterranean, arms shipments to the Arab countries and satellite photos and maps of Iraqi and

Syrian weapons and chemical warfare facilities. Israel’s Interest in destroying the Pakistani reactor stems from its opposition to any Muslim country having access to nuclear arms and the fear that Pakistan might be taken over by Islamic fundamentalists, the report said. It would be impossible for the Israel Air Force to act against the Pakistani reactor without refuelling facilities in western India because of the distance from Irael, the paper said. Israeli bombers destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor in June, 1981, reportedly after being provided with United . States satellite photos by Pollard.