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Father of Pak N-programme down with cancer |
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The disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, is battling prostate cancer. Khan, 70, a leader in the programme that built the Muslim world’s first nuclear bomb, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this month following a routine examination, according to a Pakistan Ministry of Information statement. It said the best specialist medical care is being provided to A.Q. Khan. The statement said doctors were alerted to Khan’s condition during a routine medical examination, which was followed by an ultrasound guided biopsy, the results of which were analyzed by two specialists.
Dr. Khan was named by the United States as a nuclear proliferator who sold nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran, and North Korea, and soon after, the scientist made a televised confession to the charges. But for the people of Pakistan, neither the charges nor the confession matter. Four days after placing him under house arrest Musharraf granted him a Presidential pardon. The Government also gave several assurances in Parliament and outside that it would never hand him over to American or international interrogators. The International Atomic Energy Agency is said to have sent written questionnaires to the Government, whose officials then put the questions to Dr. Khan.
Reports from Islamabad say Dr. Khan’s house is being thronged by top government functionaries and select visitors wishing him recovery. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz offered Dr. Khan bouquet of flowers while cricketer turned-politician Imran Khan offered the scientist the best treatment for cancer at his hospital in Lahore.
The issue about Dr. Khan’s health also figured prominently in the Pakistan Parliament. Many Opposition members alleged that cancer was only a smokescreen created by the Government and Dr. Khan was being poisoned so that he could not name powerful people in the Government and the military for their involvement in the smuggling of nuclear technology and making money once he is allowed access to American investigators. In July, a top official of the Government’s nuclear establishment said that in his debriefing sessions Dr. Khan had named two ex-aides of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as his accomplices.
The Pakistan People’s Party hit back saying that while it was convenient for the Musharraf Government to name two men who could not defend themselves, it did not explain how Dr. Khan and these two individuals could have smuggled out centrifuge units weighing tonnes across security cordons and in military aircraft, as alleged without the active involvement of those in the Government. Journalist Shahid-ur-Rehman, who wrote the book Long Road to Chagai tracing the history of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, also subscribes to the view that Dr. Khan could not have carried out a proliferation racket all by himself.
Khan’s Al-Qaeda links
A.Q. Khan’s role in the Al-Qaeda attempts to acquire nuclear weapons before 2000 and his links with the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, are also well-known. Well-known Pakistani columnist Khaled Ahmed has referred to Khan’s presence massive rallies and annual congregations organized by LeT Muridke. Khan attended these meetings not alone but along with his other colleagues in the nuclear establishment, including Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood, former Director of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and the man who enriched uranium at Khushab (Washington Times, December 30, 2003). Another key nuclear scientist who had been a regular visitor to LeT rallies was Abdul Majid, a close associate of Khan. Both Bashiruddin and Majid believed that Pakistan should generously help other Muslim nations with nuclear technology and materials.
But what feared the US most were their linkages with Osama bin Laden. After the bombing of Kabul in October-November 2001 , the US troops discovered documents in a safe house, which indicated that Majid and Bashiruddin had met, Osama bin Laden. The Washington Post (March 3, 2002) reported that the then CIA chief, George Tenet, had rushed to Pakistan to investigate the matter. The US fear was that Osama bin Laden might have procured the technology and materials to build nuclear on radiation weapons. Bashiruddin, who spent 20 years of his career at Kahuta enriching uranium, was an ideal source for knowledge transfer. Although Bashiruddin denied discussing the nuclear matter with Osama bin Laden, the CIA’s search of his charity organization, Umma Tameer-e-Nau (UTN) in Kabul disclosed documents relating to the construction of nuclear weapons. According to Khaled, the investigators also found letters, exchanged between the UTN and the LeT.
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