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The majority of Pakistani youth
have been born to worship the
founder of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgist by training and head of Pakistan’s nuclear program. It was a rare and equally shocking moment for many Pakistani people to see their “hero” appearing on television on February 4, in the midst of a storm that has been created with a news leak, confessing his sin of what the international community says is nuclear proliferation. Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the so-called father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, admitted that he and only he himself is responsible for exporting nuclear know-how to various nations (Iran, Libya and North Korea), thus exonerating the powerful military from any involvement in that business.
“I beg for forgiveness,” Khan said on TV, with a grim face and hallow voice. Then it was the international community’s turn to register shock and disbelief. Pakistan’s military ruler was quick to act on Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan’s plea of clemency. The next day, on February 5, he granted mercy to the scientist who virtually ran – borrowing words from International Atomic Energy Commission’s, (IAEA), Chief Muhammad El Baradi — a “nuclear Wal-Mart” in the underworld. By acting this way, Pakistan’s military ruler tried to downplay the issue of nuclear trade that the international community wants to investigate fully and to bring those who played a part in this dangerous commerce to trial.
It all started last fall when Iran, succumbing to intense international pressure, spilled the nuclear beans and shared information with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA of its uranium enrichment program. Pakistan was named the culprit for helping Iran build its ambitious nuclear program. Within two months, a Libyan connection was also found in Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation.
Earlier, in the autumn of 2002, Pakistan was named as the potential supplier of North Korea’s nuclear resources. At the time, US Secretary of State Colin Powell had traveled to Pakistan only to be assured by General Musharraf that no such thing could have ever happened. However, it was different with Iran and Libya as, unlike defiant North Korea, both the countries were cooperating with international atomic watch dog agencies and had no intention of giving cover to the supplier of centrifuge designs. So far, 11 people have been formally taken into custody on the charges of selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Seven of them are nuclear scientists from Khan Research Laboratories — named after and run by Dr. Khan until 2001. Also, many people have started to raise questions about the rationale of detaining Dr. Khan’s associates of the crime of nuclear commerce when the ‘big culprit,’ Dr. Khan, is pardoned.
Regarding the blame game of “who does what,” many analysts don’t buy the government’s story that some rogue scientists and few retired military men acted on their own in lust for money. They insist that an operation of such a high level and sensitivity could not have occurred without the tactical approval of military leadership which had guardianship of the nuclear program.
Dr. Khan’s confession of a solitary crime notwithstanding, many people insist that he has been made a scapegoat for the people behind the scenes. “Everything was controlled by the generals and not the scientists,” Hisam-ul Haq, the brother of one of Khan’s aides who is now in custody, was reported telling reporters the other day. A recently formed committee advocating for the release of those who are arrested in connection with the nuclear proliferation, is vocal in its demand for equal distribution of “justice” in this matter.
Choudhari Nisar Ali, former federal Defense Minister and currently opposition leader in parliament, revealed in a press conference that the Pakistani government threatened Dr. Khan that they would hand him over to the FBI if he did not take all the responsibility and blame on his shoulders. In the press briefing, he also disclosed that some Americans are stationed in Islamabad to safeguard Musharraf. “A person who owes his rule and security to America is a real security risk for Pakistan rather that the scientists who enabled Pakistan to counterweight our enemy,” he said.
During past few weeks, two former chiefs of the Pakistan army, General Mirza Aslam Beg and General Jahangir Karamat are named in this scandal. Though the latter has kept a low profile, the former has come forward defiantly to challenge the wisdom of the US-led international community. General Beg insists that the USA and UK are equally responsible in this crime as both overlooked the activities during the height of the cold war when Pakistan was acting as a frontline state in the USA’s covert war on the former USSR in Afghanistan.
“Now, Americans are telling us that they had been monitoring the suspicious activities of Dr. Khan for the past 15 years. How come they did not take up the issue before the US at the time?” retired General Aslam Beg asked while defending his position on the issue.
Official versions of the whole episode have revealed that a ring of nuclear scientists and a few retired military officers ran the ‘nuclear bazaar’ with the help of an international cartel of underworld figures which had its base in Dubai. A few days back, General Musharraf invited about 100 senior journalists and editors for a briefing on the issue. In his speech, which was aired later on state run TV, the general maintained that according to his investigation, no past or present government or military chief had been involved in the issue. “But I want to tell media men that had it been so. You should not write on the issue as it will jeopardize our national security and compromise national interests,” he commanded.
On February 6, MMA, an alliance of Pakistan’s seven religious parties, which is the second largest political group in Parliament and is running two out of four provincial governments in Pakistan, called for a countrywide strike in solidarity with nuclear scientists. The call turned violent in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, where hundreds of activists were arrested and dozens sustained injuries in violent clashes with law-enforcers.
“The country should be grateful to the scientists who brought power and pride to the country,” said Hafiz Nasarullah, a bearded demagogue leading a procession. “They are a thorn in the heart of enemies of Islam who now want to eliminate and disgrace them.”
“USA and Europe are themselves the biggest proliferators. They supplied nuclear know-how to Israel and India,” another speaker said. “Why does nobody talk of them and bring them to justice as was done with our heroes?”
Interestingly, the international community’s view regarding the sensitivity of the issue of nuclear proliferation notwithstanding, even Pakistan’s military leader Pervaiz Musharraf, when he appeared on television February 5 to talk on the issue, cannot help confessing that he still regards Dr. Khan as his hero. “He is my hero too, said Musharraf, “I could have, however, sacrificed the country to protect a hero.”
“Dr. Khan is a national hero because in the eyes of all Pakistani, he has brought about strategic balance in south Asia,” Pakistan’s foreign secretary Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri was heard saying this weekend in Germany. However, many analysts foresee problems for the country. They maintain that pardoning Dr. Khan and detaining a dozen people in Pakistan cannot succeed in closing the nuclear Pandora’s box. They warn that the international community will not stop short of opening our nuclear installations to the outside world for close monitoring and will share the investigation with international bodies like IAEA.
So, the next few weeks are vital for Pakistan’s military ruler whom the USA deems its best and crucial ally in the US-led plan to fight radical Islamists. His opposition is fast growing at home as many people see him as too lenient towards the USA.
“Those who sold nuclear assets like chocolate are not only insane but also enemy of Pakistan,” said Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benzir Bhutto who now lives in exile. “They must face trial.”
Unfortunately, General Musharraf neither has the guts, or intention, to go ahead with an independent enquiry on nuclear proliferation through a clandestine, Mafia style business, nor do his mentors in the White House want him to go so far and to risk his rule. Nor do the majority of the Pakistani people deem it fit to bring their so-called heroes to justice. So, truth would again be the casuality in the game of national and trans-national petty, myopic interests. The world is becoming more dangerous with this type of selected justice at the cost and peril of universal truth — and peace, of course!
Ali Rind lives in Karachi, Pakistan.
“I beg for forgiveness,” Khan said on TV, with a grim face and hallow voice. Then it was the international community’s turn to register shock and disbelief. Pakistan’s military ruler was quick to act on Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan’s plea of clemency. The next day, on February 5, he granted mercy to the scientist who virtually ran – borrowing words from International Atomic Energy Commission’s, (IAEA), Chief Muhammad El Baradi — a “nuclear Wal-Mart” in the underworld. By acting this way, Pakistan’s military ruler tried to downplay the issue of nuclear trade that the international community wants to investigate fully and to bring those who played a part in this dangerous commerce to trial.
It all started last fall when Iran, succumbing to intense international pressure, spilled the nuclear beans and shared information with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA of its uranium enrichment program. Pakistan was named the culprit for helping Iran build its ambitious nuclear program. Within two months, a Libyan connection was also found in Pakistan’s nuclear proliferation.
Earlier, in the autumn of 2002, Pakistan was named as the potential supplier of North Korea’s nuclear resources. At the time, US Secretary of State Colin Powell had traveled to Pakistan only to be assured by General Musharraf that no such thing could have ever happened. However, it was different with Iran and Libya as, unlike defiant North Korea, both the countries were cooperating with international atomic watch dog agencies and had no intention of giving cover to the supplier of centrifuge designs. So far, 11 people have been formally taken into custody on the charges of selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Seven of them are nuclear scientists from Khan Research Laboratories — named after and run by Dr. Khan until 2001. Also, many people have started to raise questions about the rationale of detaining Dr. Khan’s associates of the crime of nuclear commerce when the ‘big culprit,’ Dr. Khan, is pardoned.
Regarding the blame game of “who does what,” many analysts don’t buy the government’s story that some rogue scientists and few retired military men acted on their own in lust for money. They insist that an operation of such a high level and sensitivity could not have occurred without the tactical approval of military leadership which had guardianship of the nuclear program.
Dr. Khan’s confession of a solitary crime notwithstanding, many people insist that he has been made a scapegoat for the people behind the scenes. “Everything was controlled by the generals and not the scientists,” Hisam-ul Haq, the brother of one of Khan’s aides who is now in custody, was reported telling reporters the other day. A recently formed committee advocating for the release of those who are arrested in connection with the nuclear proliferation, is vocal in its demand for equal distribution of “justice” in this matter.
Choudhari Nisar Ali, former federal Defense Minister and currently opposition leader in parliament, revealed in a press conference that the Pakistani government threatened Dr. Khan that they would hand him over to the FBI if he did not take all the responsibility and blame on his shoulders. In the press briefing, he also disclosed that some Americans are stationed in Islamabad to safeguard Musharraf. “A person who owes his rule and security to America is a real security risk for Pakistan rather that the scientists who enabled Pakistan to counterweight our enemy,” he said.
During past few weeks, two former chiefs of the Pakistan army, General Mirza Aslam Beg and General Jahangir Karamat are named in this scandal. Though the latter has kept a low profile, the former has come forward defiantly to challenge the wisdom of the US-led international community. General Beg insists that the USA and UK are equally responsible in this crime as both overlooked the activities during the height of the cold war when Pakistan was acting as a frontline state in the USA’s covert war on the former USSR in Afghanistan.
“Now, Americans are telling us that they had been monitoring the suspicious activities of Dr. Khan for the past 15 years. How come they did not take up the issue before the US at the time?” retired General Aslam Beg asked while defending his position on the issue.
Official versions of the whole episode have revealed that a ring of nuclear scientists and a few retired military officers ran the ‘nuclear bazaar’ with the help of an international cartel of underworld figures which had its base in Dubai. A few days back, General Musharraf invited about 100 senior journalists and editors for a briefing on the issue. In his speech, which was aired later on state run TV, the general maintained that according to his investigation, no past or present government or military chief had been involved in the issue. “But I want to tell media men that had it been so. You should not write on the issue as it will jeopardize our national security and compromise national interests,” he commanded.
On February 6, MMA, an alliance of Pakistan’s seven religious parties, which is the second largest political group in Parliament and is running two out of four provincial governments in Pakistan, called for a countrywide strike in solidarity with nuclear scientists. The call turned violent in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, where hundreds of activists were arrested and dozens sustained injuries in violent clashes with law-enforcers.
“The country should be grateful to the scientists who brought power and pride to the country,” said Hafiz Nasarullah, a bearded demagogue leading a procession. “They are a thorn in the heart of enemies of Islam who now want to eliminate and disgrace them.”
“USA and Europe are themselves the biggest proliferators. They supplied nuclear know-how to Israel and India,” another speaker said. “Why does nobody talk of them and bring them to justice as was done with our heroes?”
Interestingly, the international community’s view regarding the sensitivity of the issue of nuclear proliferation notwithstanding, even Pakistan’s military leader Pervaiz Musharraf, when he appeared on television February 5 to talk on the issue, cannot help confessing that he still regards Dr. Khan as his hero. “He is my hero too, said Musharraf, “I could have, however, sacrificed the country to protect a hero.”
“Dr. Khan is a national hero because in the eyes of all Pakistani, he has brought about strategic balance in south Asia,” Pakistan’s foreign secretary Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri was heard saying this weekend in Germany. However, many analysts foresee problems for the country. They maintain that pardoning Dr. Khan and detaining a dozen people in Pakistan cannot succeed in closing the nuclear Pandora’s box. They warn that the international community will not stop short of opening our nuclear installations to the outside world for close monitoring and will share the investigation with international bodies like IAEA.
So, the next few weeks are vital for Pakistan’s military ruler whom the USA deems its best and crucial ally in the US-led plan to fight radical Islamists. His opposition is fast growing at home as many people see him as too lenient towards the USA.
“Those who sold nuclear assets like chocolate are not only insane but also enemy of Pakistan,” said Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benzir Bhutto who now lives in exile. “They must face trial.”
Unfortunately, General Musharraf neither has the guts, or intention, to go ahead with an independent enquiry on nuclear proliferation through a clandestine, Mafia style business, nor do his mentors in the White House want him to go so far and to risk his rule. Nor do the majority of the Pakistani people deem it fit to bring their so-called heroes to justice. So, truth would again be the casuality in the game of national and trans-national petty, myopic interests. The world is becoming more dangerous with this type of selected justice at the cost and peril of universal truth — and peace, of course!
Ali Rind lives in Karachi, Pakistan.