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Feroz Hassan Khan: Eating Grass: the Making of the Pakistani Bomb (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012)
When people mention of the nuclear weapons, the most commonly used word is taboo. So far, no more than ten countries developed nuclear weapons winning recognized internationally, Pakistan, as "the first nuclear weapons state in the Islamic World" among them. (p.283) However, Partly because the nuclear weapons program and relevant information had been kept secret by the Pakistan government, it had not become a hot topic of the academia. It only gained special attention from media for its sudden nuclear test in 1998 and the outbreak of nuclear proliferation scandal in 2004. 1 In this respect, the Pakistan nuclear program became a longstanding puzzle. Fortunately, Eating Grass: the Making of the Pakistani Bomb (Stanford University Press, 2012) may be told this story to all of us.
The first impression that left to most readers may be the doubt of why choosing "eating grass" as its book name, for eating grass has nothing to do with developing nuclear weapons. However, if the readers know a little about the Pakistan nuclear history, they may understand this. "Eating grass" came from a statement made by the then Pakistan Foreign Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. As far back in 1965, he famously told the Manchester Guardian:"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 as we would be left with no other alternative. The answer to an atom bomb can only be an atom bomb." (p.7)
Just as the theory of "eating grass" is unfamiliar to most readers, Feroz Hassan Khan, the author of this book, is also not so well known in China. However, he has a prominent reputation in Pakistan. Brigadier (Retired) Feroz Khan held powerful positions on the Strategic Plans Division (SPD) and other departments, and played a senior role in formulating and advocating Pakistan's security policy on nuclear and conventional arms control. As his notes, "the last decade of my thirty-two years in the military were dedicated to the Pakistani nuclear program". (p.x) After retired, he joined the faculty at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) as a lecturer in...