'Claims of a congenital liar'

new delhi: osama bin laden's claim of having nuclear weapons are pooh-poohed by indian strategic experts. assembling these, they say, is a complex proposition beyond the capability of terrorists hidden in the caves in afghanistan. osama's claim is preposterous, says brahma chelleny, professor of security studies at the centre for policy research. "building and handling nuclear weapons is a very, very complex issue.with such wild claims, osama, who is a congenital liar, is trying to build himself into a bigger monster than he is." even if he has built nuclear weapons, how will he deliver these, chelleny asks? "if he wants to use them, he can put them in trucks and use them only in pakistan or india. he cannot reach america. the americans should not panic over his wild claims. he is trying to become a hero in the muslim world." ruling out the possibility of pakistani n-weapons falling into his hands, uday bhaskar, deputy director of the institute for defence studies and analyses, says some elements in the pakistani establishment could be sympathetic to osama. "but i believe, the pakistani army has a high degree of competence in understanding the lethal quality of n-weapons. they are competent enough to ensure the physical safety of these weapons." considering the complexity of nuclear weapons, he says, even if osama has the knowhow, he has no infrastructure to manufacture and deliver these weapons. only if a state decides to help a non-state or an individual is there a probability of nuclear weapons falling into rogue hands, bhaskar says. "but that is not the way nuclear-weapon states operate in the modern world. pakistan is no exception. from my interaction with the pakistanis, i can say that they know its implications." at this juncture, osama's claim has only some nuisance value, he adds.