What Is Bird Flu?
Avian flu is caused by a form of influenza virus that usually only infects birds and sometimes infects pigs. The few people who have become sick or died from the bird flu had direct contact with infected birds.
Like the flu that affects humans, there are lots of different strains (varieties) of bird flu. Some only cause mild symptoms in birds, such as reduced egg production. Other strains are more dangerous to birds — they spread quickly, cause more severe symptoms, and almost always kill the birds.
The strain of bird flu that has infected people in Asia and the Middle East recently is called H5N1. H5N1 is one of the strains that are dangerous to birds.
The people who became infected with the H5N1 strain of avian flu caught it directly from birds. It has not been proven that H5N1 can be spread from person to person.
Why Are People So Worried About It?
Experts are concerned that the H5N1 strain of bird flu could mutate (change) into a new form that can rapidly spread from person to person. This has happened in past flu outbreaks and has caused what is known as a pandemic. A pandemic is a global outbreak of a disease that causes serious illness in people and spreads quickly throughout populations.
Vaccines can help keep a virus infection from spreading and causing a pandemic. Although there is no vaccine for the H5N1 flu virus right now, scientists are working on one.
What Are We Doing About It?
The good news is that we have more information and resources available today than we did when the last flu pandemic occurred more than 30 years ago. Health officials around the world are working together to try to make sure that bird flu doesn't spread — and to keep people safe if it does. Experts believe only about 387 people have contracted the disease in the last 5 years.
In an effort to keep bird flu from spreading, authorities in countries that have experienced outbreaks have destroyed hundreds of millions of birds.
Three countries (Japan, Korea, and Malaysia) have controlled their outbreaks of the H5N1 strain and officials report there is no more virus in these nations.
Countries that have not had any outbreaks — including the United States — have stopped importing poultry from countries that have had avian flu outbreaks. Meanwhile, scientists are working on a vaccine to keep people from getting the avian flu.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is closely monitoring the countries where there have been outbreaks to see if the virus spreads or mutates in a way that makes it more threatening to people. The organization has created an emergency plan to handle a pandemic, including stockpiling antiviral medications to help people if they do become infected. Although antiviral medicines don't cure the infection, they can make an infected person's symptoms less severe.
How Does Bird Flu Spread?
Migrating birds, like ducks, geese, and swans, can carry and spread the virus to other birds — often across country borders. Some of these migratory birds don't seem to get sick from bird flu, but domesticated birds like chickens and turkeys can die from it.
A bird can get bird flu from another bird by coming into close contact with its infected feces (poop), secretions, or saliva. Birds can also get sick if they come into contact with dirt, cages, or any surfaces that have been contaminated by sick birds. That's why researchers think live bird markets, where birds are kept in close quarters, are places where the virus has spread quickly.
The virus can also spread from farm to farm if birds' infected feces and saliva get on farming equipment, like tractor wheels, clothing, and cages.
It's unlikely that a person who gets infected with the H5N1 strain of the avian flu will spread it to other people. All the human cases of bird flu so far have happened because people got it directly from infected birds. These people lived in rural areas, where many families keep small household poultry flocks that they butcher themselves. Poultry also roam freely in some of those areas, and there are lots of opportunities to be exposed to their infected feces.
How Can You Protect Yourself?
In most places, there is no immediate threat to humans from bird flu. The best way to protect yourself is by doing the same things you do to protect yourself from any contagious illness. No matter where you live and how healthy you are, be sure to thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water many times a day, particularly after going to the bathroom and before preparing meals and eating.
Wash your hands frequently if you're around someone who is sick. Don't share that person's food or eating utensils. It's also a good idea to wash your hands if you've touched a surface that lots of people have been using, such as a door handle.
You can also protect yourself by taking proper food safety precautions. For example, never eat undercooked or uncooked poultry. And always wash any kitchen surfaces that have had uncooked meat on them, not just to protect against flu but also to protect against other things that can make you sick, such as salmonella bacteria. Separate raw meat from cooked or ready-to-eat foods. And don't use the same cutting boards, knives, or utensils that are used on uncooked meats on other foods.
If you're going to a country where there has been an outbreak of bird flu, talk with your doctor and visit the websites of agencies like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the WHO. The CDC posts travel warnings on its website.
If you are in a country where there has been a bird flu outbreak, avoid any contact with chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, turkeys, quail, or any wild birds. Stay away from live bird markets, local poultry farms, or any other settings where there might be infected poultry. Avoid touching surfaces that could have been contaminated by bird saliva, feces, or urine.
Where Is Bird Flu a Problem Right Now?
Over the past couple of years there have been outbreaks of H5N1 among birds in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. So far, human cases have been confirmed in several countries in Asia and the Middle East.
Will Bird Flu Become a Concern in the United States?
The H5N1 bird flu virus has not been found in birds or humans in the United States. So unless there's a global outbreak of avian flu in people, it's unlikely that bird flu will become a problem in the United States.
But no one yet knows if there will be a global outbreak. The H5N1 strain of the virus has been around since 1997. The longer it lingers and spreads among birds, the more opportunities there will be for the virus to infect people. The more people who are infected with the virus, the more opportunities the virus will have to mutate into a form that could spread from person to person. That could lead to a pandemic.
What Are the Signs That a Pandemic Is Happening?
If clusters of people start showing symptoms of the flu in a country where it's known that the virus is spreading, that's a sign that the virus may have mutated in a way that allows it to spread from person to person. Doctors and public health officials would try to find out how the people got sick. They would then use that information to try to track and stop the disease from spreading.
What Are the Symptoms of Bird Flu in Humans?
The symptoms of bird flu in people tend to be similar to the typical flu: fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches. But this flu can also lead to eye infections, pneumonia, and severe coughing and breathing problems.
Can My Pet Bird Get It?
A pet bird could get avian flu if it is exposed to another bird that's carrying the virus. Here are some things you can do to protect your bird and yourself:
Keep your bird and its food and water inside, away from any place where it could be exposed to infected migrating or domestic birds. Don't allow your bird to drink or eat from ponds or other places outdoors that migrating birds may have flown over.
Keep your pet bird's cage clean.
Wash your hands after handling your pet bird, cleaning its cage, or after having any contact with your bird's secretions (like saliva, feces, or urine).
U.S. government officials have put a stop to imports of live birds and bird products (like meat and eggs) from countries where there have been outbreaks of bird flu. So if you buy a pet bird, it should not have been exposed to the virus. However, there is an illegal market for buying and selling exotic birds (like parrots, for example). So just to be safe, before you buy a bird to keep as a pet, find out where it was born and raised.
If you have any questions about buying a pet bird or your own bird's health, contact a veterinarian.
Should I Stop Eating Chicken and Turkey?
It's safe to eat properly cooked chicken, turkey, and any other poultry in the United States. Heat can destroy flu viruses, so cook poultry so that the temperature of the meat reaches at least 158° Fahrenheit (70° Celsius). Do not eat uncooked or undercooked poultry or poultry products.
Should I Get a Flu Shot?
Yes. Although you can't get vaccinated against bird flu yet, experts still encourage people to get their flu shots — especially people who are in high-risk groups. Researchers are working to develop an effective vaccine against the bird flu.
How Is Bird Flu Treated?
Doctors hope that certain antiviral medications will help keep the flu from spreading if it becomes contagious to humans. These medications can't cure bird flu, but they can make the symptoms less severe.
Flu viruses can become resistant to medications, so they may not always work. That's why experts constantly study and test medications to determine their effectiveness and develop better ones.
Reviewed by: Cecilia diPentima, MD
Date reviewed: October 2008.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Saturday, November 7, 2009
KALAT(princely state)
Kalat (princely state)
Kalat or Qalat (Urdu: قلات) was a princely state located in the centre of the modern province of Balochistan, Pakistan. The state capital was the town of Kalat.
Geography
The State of Kalat was located between 25°1′ and 30°8′N. And 61°37′ and 69°22′E., with a total area of 11,593 square miles. It occupied the whole of the centre and south-west of the Province of Balochistan, with the exception of the indentation caused by the little State of Las Bela. It was bounded on the west by Persia; on the east by the Bolan Pass, the Maxi and Bugti hills, and Sindh; on the north by the Chagai and Quetta-Pishin Districts; and on the south by Las Bela and the Arabian Sea. With the exception of the plains of Kharan, Kachhi, and Dasht in Makran, the country is wholly mountainous, the ranges being intersected here and there by long narrow valleys. The principal mountains are the Central Brahui, Kirthar, Pab, Siahan, Central Makran and Makran Coast Ranges, which descend in elevation from about 10,000 to 1,200 feet. The drainage of the country is almost all carried off to the southward by the Nari, Mula, Hab, Porali, Hingol and Dasht rivers. The only large river draining northwards is the Rakhshan. The coast-line stretches for about 160 miles, from near Kalmat to Gwadar Bay, and the chief port is Pasni. Round Gwadar the country was in the possession of the Sultan of Muscat.[1]
[edit] History
The state of Kalat was founded in 1638. The territories controlled by the state fluctuated over the centuries but eventually were established by treaties with the British Agent Robert Sandeman in the late 19th century. Parts of the state to the north and northeast were leased or ceded to form the province of British Baluchistan which later gained the status of a Chief Commissioners province.
On 31 March 1948, the state acceded to Pakistan and went on to form the Baluchistan States Union on 3 October 1952 with three neighbouring states. The state of Kalat ceased to exist on 14 October 1955 when the province of West Pakistan was formed.
[edit] Rulers of Kalat
The rulers of Kalat held the title of Wali originally but in 1739 also took the title (Begler Begi) Khan usually shortened to Khan. The last Khan of Kalat (Urdu: خان قلات) had the privilege of being the President of the Council of Rulers for the Baluchistan States Union.
Kalat or Qalat (Urdu: قلات) was a princely state located in the centre of the modern province of Balochistan, Pakistan. The state capital was the town of Kalat.
Geography
The State of Kalat was located between 25°1′ and 30°8′N. And 61°37′ and 69°22′E., with a total area of 11,593 square miles. It occupied the whole of the centre and south-west of the Province of Balochistan, with the exception of the indentation caused by the little State of Las Bela. It was bounded on the west by Persia; on the east by the Bolan Pass, the Maxi and Bugti hills, and Sindh; on the north by the Chagai and Quetta-Pishin Districts; and on the south by Las Bela and the Arabian Sea. With the exception of the plains of Kharan, Kachhi, and Dasht in Makran, the country is wholly mountainous, the ranges being intersected here and there by long narrow valleys. The principal mountains are the Central Brahui, Kirthar, Pab, Siahan, Central Makran and Makran Coast Ranges, which descend in elevation from about 10,000 to 1,200 feet. The drainage of the country is almost all carried off to the southward by the Nari, Mula, Hab, Porali, Hingol and Dasht rivers. The only large river draining northwards is the Rakhshan. The coast-line stretches for about 160 miles, from near Kalmat to Gwadar Bay, and the chief port is Pasni. Round Gwadar the country was in the possession of the Sultan of Muscat.[1]
[edit] History
The state of Kalat was founded in 1638. The territories controlled by the state fluctuated over the centuries but eventually were established by treaties with the British Agent Robert Sandeman in the late 19th century. Parts of the state to the north and northeast were leased or ceded to form the province of British Baluchistan which later gained the status of a Chief Commissioners province.
On 31 March 1948, the state acceded to Pakistan and went on to form the Baluchistan States Union on 3 October 1952 with three neighbouring states. The state of Kalat ceased to exist on 14 October 1955 when the province of West Pakistan was formed.
[edit] Rulers of Kalat
The rulers of Kalat held the title of Wali originally but in 1739 also took the title (Begler Begi) Khan usually shortened to Khan. The last Khan of Kalat (Urdu: خان قلات) had the privilege of being the President of the Council of Rulers for the Baluchistan States Union.
At the moment, war is being imposed on us" - Akbar Khan Bugti
At the moment, war is being imposed on us"
- Akbar Khan Bugti
From Haroon Rashid in Dera Bugti
His looks defy his age. At 80 something, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti continues to wield his influence on the country's politics. A seasoned politician and an influential tribal chief, Bugti has not stepped out of his native Dera Bugti for the last five years, but he keeps himself abreast of all political developments through extensive reading. "I read at least 13 newspapers a day, apart from several periodicals, and watch television," he says.
Amid the ongoing 'war of wits' with the government, Newsline had the chance to pay the Baloch leader a visit at his Dera Bugti headquarters-cum-residence. And true to his reputation, Bugti did not mince his words as he held forth on the latest crisis in Sui...
Q: Do you think the attack on the Sui gas plant in reaction to a lady doctor's gang rape was justified?
A:The reaction was appropriate andfitting. It was exactly according to our traditions, culture and socialpractices. Whenever a tribe's honour or prestige is at stake, this is the wayone should react. If you read our history, people have given their lives toprotect women, their honour and their livestock.
As far as your statement that the plant was targeted is concerned, let me make it clear that the plant was never hit. The issue has nothing to do with (gas) installations. A few committed this act (rape). The incident was related to them. However, since they were inside the installation, a few of the bullets or rockets hit a pipeline. The government spokesman's claim that the plant was hit is not true. If you have seen the plant, it is 50 feet high and four to five hundred metres wide. Even a blind man cannot miss it. If the plant had been the target, it would have been completely destroyed in minutes.
Q: You admit that the reaction was justified. Was there no other way to vent your anger at the alleged rape? Why was this crucial installation put in danger?
A: The plant was never targeted by anyone. The reaction was only to punish those who committed this wild, dirty act. Since they were within the plant's fence, only their camp was attacked. The aim was to target Captain Hamaad and his colleagues. The official version that the plant came under attack has been put out to validate their military operation. Our history is replete with such fake justifications and lies to pave the way for action. The Sindhis should have raised their voice more than us against the rape but they are, unfortunately, silent.
Q: Why don't you appeal to the Sindhis to raise their voice? After all the doctor was from Karachi.
A: No Sindhi has raised his voice against the rape. Sorry to say, I don't appeal to dead people.
Q: Everyone knows the grievances the Bugti tribe holds against the Sui plant management on the thorny issue of employment for local people. Do you think the rape case was a pretext to vent that anger?
A:If the Bugtis wanted to give vent to their anger in this regard they could have done it in another way. The Bugtis are not involved in this incident. A shadowy organisation, the Balochistan Liberation Front, claims to have carried out the attack. They think, as far as I know, that they are the custodians of Baloch rights, culture and honour. Whenever there is such a case, it is their first priority to swing into action. What they did was just that.
Q: In the recent past, the Balochistan Liberation Army or BLA has claimed responsibility for attacks on military targets in other parts of the province. Is the Sui incident a similar case?
A: You said BLA. That is a separate organisation. The BLF, BLA and Balochistan People's Liberation Front are different groups or organisations. These are three different shadowy organisations. Whatever they have done in the past is not linked to the Sui attacks.
Q: This is your domain. The impression is that not a thing can move here without your consent. So did this violent reaction to an incident of rape have your support?
A: Whatever name you give to these groups, they are not under our control. They are not beholden to anyone. Whatever they do, they do it on their own. They don't ask anyone. Their rank and file could comprise the Bugtis, Marris, Mengals, Zehris, Jamalis and even Chief Minister Jam Yusuf's Jamotes. People from Kharan, Chagai and Makran could be part of it. In short, any Baloch could be part of it. They are working for Baloch rights. So wherever they go, they face no problem or resistance and also they don't openly announce that they are from the BLA or BLF. They say they are guests and people welcome and feed them. And when they do something good for the Baloch cause, no one asks them why did you do that. They are doing the right thing so far.
Q: One of the Bugtis' demands has been to hand over security jobs at the Sui plant to the locals. On the other hand there is an impression that the presence of the highly paid Defence Services Group (DSG), comprising 700 army personnel, is generating hatred among the locals. Is that true?
A: I want to know which Bugti made this demand and when? Who said give these jobs to us? However, the Bugtis have been saying that this is their right. But the government, ironically, labels them traitors - anti-state elements who can't be trusted. So how can these jobs be given to us.
Q: The Sui plant has never been targeted, even during the bloody insurgencies in Balochistan. Why has it happened now?
A: As I said before, no one targeted the plant; it was only some people inside it.
Q: Do you think justice will be dispensed in the rape case?
A: In my opinion, the investigations have made no progress so far. I read in the newspapers that the provincial government has set up an inquiry commission comprising a high court judge but no progress is visible after that. The inquiry into the assassination of the country's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, is still not complete. So what else can you expect.
Q: Do you support the idea of the accused walking on fire to prove his innocence?
A: I do not have much faith in official inquiries, but I can't make this demand. People would say an educated man is talking like this, but my tribesmen are ready for this exercise. This is how we have been dispensing instant justice in some cases for centuries.
Q: Are you sure the army will be used against you?
A: I don't know. As they say, no one knows the enemy's mind. But they are deploying troops in large numbers - almost a division. You have seen Sui, it is a small place. Even one division of soldiers is too much. They are, it seems, using a hammer weighing a ton to kill a fly.
Q: Coming to the general situation in Balochistan, do you think the parliamentary committee set up to resolve the crisis in this province will help achieve anything?
A: The committee did some work initially. Nawab Khair Bux Marri dissociated from this process at the very beginning, while Sardar Attaullah Mengal's Balochistan National Party decided to quit it after the arrest of some of their workers and initiation of cases against them. Now the army is being mobilised against us. Viewed against this backdrop it becomes a joke. The whole process is dead.
Q: It seems no one, neither the Baloch nationalists nor the federal government, are ready to budge from their stated positions. So, is the situation getting better or worse?
A: Can't say. At the moment, war is being imposed on us. If someone survives it, then we will see. General Sahib (Pervez Musharraf) has promised to hit us in such a way that we will not know what hit us. In one sense it is quick death that he is promising us. They could do this to a few Baloch leaders, but not the whole Baloch nation.
Q: What steps, in your view, can ensure security of the plant in the future?
A:For over 50 years, we have been the Sui gas plant's guards. We have been protecting it. We're not its enemy. How can we damage it?
Q: How justified are the locals in demanding more jobs at the Sui field?
A: They continue to bring in people from outside. They're taking away food from the local people's mouth. This is unacceptable. They're promoting to ensure jobs for the locals in Gwadar. But people have the example of Sui before them. That's why no one trusts them. The government had promised that all jobs that the locals could do would be given to them. We've signed documents about these commitments. Now people are being brought in, even for unskilled labour. After 50 years of continuous struggle, only a 52 per cent figure of employment has been achieved for the unskilled local population. What sort of justice is this?
- Akbar Khan Bugti
From Haroon Rashid in Dera Bugti
His looks defy his age. At 80 something, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti continues to wield his influence on the country's politics. A seasoned politician and an influential tribal chief, Bugti has not stepped out of his native Dera Bugti for the last five years, but he keeps himself abreast of all political developments through extensive reading. "I read at least 13 newspapers a day, apart from several periodicals, and watch television," he says.
Amid the ongoing 'war of wits' with the government, Newsline had the chance to pay the Baloch leader a visit at his Dera Bugti headquarters-cum-residence. And true to his reputation, Bugti did not mince his words as he held forth on the latest crisis in Sui...
Q: Do you think the attack on the Sui gas plant in reaction to a lady doctor's gang rape was justified?
A:The reaction was appropriate andfitting. It was exactly according to our traditions, culture and socialpractices. Whenever a tribe's honour or prestige is at stake, this is the wayone should react. If you read our history, people have given their lives toprotect women, their honour and their livestock.
As far as your statement that the plant was targeted is concerned, let me make it clear that the plant was never hit. The issue has nothing to do with (gas) installations. A few committed this act (rape). The incident was related to them. However, since they were inside the installation, a few of the bullets or rockets hit a pipeline. The government spokesman's claim that the plant was hit is not true. If you have seen the plant, it is 50 feet high and four to five hundred metres wide. Even a blind man cannot miss it. If the plant had been the target, it would have been completely destroyed in minutes.
Q: You admit that the reaction was justified. Was there no other way to vent your anger at the alleged rape? Why was this crucial installation put in danger?
A: The plant was never targeted by anyone. The reaction was only to punish those who committed this wild, dirty act. Since they were within the plant's fence, only their camp was attacked. The aim was to target Captain Hamaad and his colleagues. The official version that the plant came under attack has been put out to validate their military operation. Our history is replete with such fake justifications and lies to pave the way for action. The Sindhis should have raised their voice more than us against the rape but they are, unfortunately, silent.
Q: Why don't you appeal to the Sindhis to raise their voice? After all the doctor was from Karachi.
A: No Sindhi has raised his voice against the rape. Sorry to say, I don't appeal to dead people.
Q: Everyone knows the grievances the Bugti tribe holds against the Sui plant management on the thorny issue of employment for local people. Do you think the rape case was a pretext to vent that anger?
A:If the Bugtis wanted to give vent to their anger in this regard they could have done it in another way. The Bugtis are not involved in this incident. A shadowy organisation, the Balochistan Liberation Front, claims to have carried out the attack. They think, as far as I know, that they are the custodians of Baloch rights, culture and honour. Whenever there is such a case, it is their first priority to swing into action. What they did was just that.
Q: In the recent past, the Balochistan Liberation Army or BLA has claimed responsibility for attacks on military targets in other parts of the province. Is the Sui incident a similar case?
A: You said BLA. That is a separate organisation. The BLF, BLA and Balochistan People's Liberation Front are different groups or organisations. These are three different shadowy organisations. Whatever they have done in the past is not linked to the Sui attacks.
Q: This is your domain. The impression is that not a thing can move here without your consent. So did this violent reaction to an incident of rape have your support?
A: Whatever name you give to these groups, they are not under our control. They are not beholden to anyone. Whatever they do, they do it on their own. They don't ask anyone. Their rank and file could comprise the Bugtis, Marris, Mengals, Zehris, Jamalis and even Chief Minister Jam Yusuf's Jamotes. People from Kharan, Chagai and Makran could be part of it. In short, any Baloch could be part of it. They are working for Baloch rights. So wherever they go, they face no problem or resistance and also they don't openly announce that they are from the BLA or BLF. They say they are guests and people welcome and feed them. And when they do something good for the Baloch cause, no one asks them why did you do that. They are doing the right thing so far.
Q: One of the Bugtis' demands has been to hand over security jobs at the Sui plant to the locals. On the other hand there is an impression that the presence of the highly paid Defence Services Group (DSG), comprising 700 army personnel, is generating hatred among the locals. Is that true?
A: I want to know which Bugti made this demand and when? Who said give these jobs to us? However, the Bugtis have been saying that this is their right. But the government, ironically, labels them traitors - anti-state elements who can't be trusted. So how can these jobs be given to us.
Q: The Sui plant has never been targeted, even during the bloody insurgencies in Balochistan. Why has it happened now?
A: As I said before, no one targeted the plant; it was only some people inside it.
Q: Do you think justice will be dispensed in the rape case?
A: In my opinion, the investigations have made no progress so far. I read in the newspapers that the provincial government has set up an inquiry commission comprising a high court judge but no progress is visible after that. The inquiry into the assassination of the country's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, is still not complete. So what else can you expect.
Q: Do you support the idea of the accused walking on fire to prove his innocence?
A: I do not have much faith in official inquiries, but I can't make this demand. People would say an educated man is talking like this, but my tribesmen are ready for this exercise. This is how we have been dispensing instant justice in some cases for centuries.
Q: Are you sure the army will be used against you?
A: I don't know. As they say, no one knows the enemy's mind. But they are deploying troops in large numbers - almost a division. You have seen Sui, it is a small place. Even one division of soldiers is too much. They are, it seems, using a hammer weighing a ton to kill a fly.
Q: Coming to the general situation in Balochistan, do you think the parliamentary committee set up to resolve the crisis in this province will help achieve anything?
A: The committee did some work initially. Nawab Khair Bux Marri dissociated from this process at the very beginning, while Sardar Attaullah Mengal's Balochistan National Party decided to quit it after the arrest of some of their workers and initiation of cases against them. Now the army is being mobilised against us. Viewed against this backdrop it becomes a joke. The whole process is dead.
Q: It seems no one, neither the Baloch nationalists nor the federal government, are ready to budge from their stated positions. So, is the situation getting better or worse?
A: Can't say. At the moment, war is being imposed on us. If someone survives it, then we will see. General Sahib (Pervez Musharraf) has promised to hit us in such a way that we will not know what hit us. In one sense it is quick death that he is promising us. They could do this to a few Baloch leaders, but not the whole Baloch nation.
Q: What steps, in your view, can ensure security of the plant in the future?
A:For over 50 years, we have been the Sui gas plant's guards. We have been protecting it. We're not its enemy. How can we damage it?
Q: How justified are the locals in demanding more jobs at the Sui field?
A: They continue to bring in people from outside. They're taking away food from the local people's mouth. This is unacceptable. They're promoting to ensure jobs for the locals in Gwadar. But people have the example of Sui before them. That's why no one trusts them. The government had promised that all jobs that the locals could do would be given to them. We've signed documents about these commitments. Now people are being brought in, even for unskilled labour. After 50 years of continuous struggle, only a 52 per cent figure of employment has been achieved for the unskilled local population. What sort of justice is this?
Baloch civil wars
Baloch civil wars
The Baloch civil wars are a series of conflicts that have taken place between the Baloch people. The Baloch are an ethnic group in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Arab countries. Mostly the Baluch are tribal and have often fought amongst themselves throughout history.
The 30 year war
The 30 year war was an intra Baloch conflict lasting almost 30 year long and fought between the forces of Mir Chakar Khan Rind (tribal ruler) and Mir Gwaharam Khan Lashari in 15th century CE.
Mir Chakar Rind lived in Sevi (modern city of Sibi) in the hills of Balochistan and became the head of Rind tribe at the age of 18 after the death of his father Mir Shehak Khan. Mir Chakar's kingdom was shortlived because of a civil war between the Lashari and Rind tribes of Balochistan.[1] Mir Chakar Rind and Mir Gwaharam Khan Lashari, head of the Lashari tribe, went to war that resulted in thousands dead, including Mir Chakar's brother. The war and the gallantry of the two tribe leaders continues to be a part of the Baloch peoples' history. After the "Thirty Years' War" against the Lashari Tribe,[2] Mir Chakar Rind left Balochistan and settled in the Punjab region in 1518.
The Baloch civil wars are a series of conflicts that have taken place between the Baloch people. The Baloch are an ethnic group in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Arab countries. Mostly the Baluch are tribal and have often fought amongst themselves throughout history.
The 30 year war
The 30 year war was an intra Baloch conflict lasting almost 30 year long and fought between the forces of Mir Chakar Khan Rind (tribal ruler) and Mir Gwaharam Khan Lashari in 15th century CE.
Mir Chakar Rind lived in Sevi (modern city of Sibi) in the hills of Balochistan and became the head of Rind tribe at the age of 18 after the death of his father Mir Shehak Khan. Mir Chakar's kingdom was shortlived because of a civil war between the Lashari and Rind tribes of Balochistan.[1] Mir Chakar Rind and Mir Gwaharam Khan Lashari, head of the Lashari tribe, went to war that resulted in thousands dead, including Mir Chakar's brother. The war and the gallantry of the two tribe leaders continues to be a part of the Baloch peoples' history. After the "Thirty Years' War" against the Lashari Tribe,[2] Mir Chakar Rind left Balochistan and settled in the Punjab region in 1518.
AKBAR BUGTI
Akbar Bugti
Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti (Urdu: نواب اکبر شہاز خان بگٹی) (July 12, 1927–August 26, 2006) was the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch and served as Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan.[1]
After an armed struggle started in Balochistan in 2004, Bugti was widely perceived as a leader but went underground in 2005. On August 26, 2006, after several attempts were made on his life in the preceding months,[2] he was killed in his cave in Kohlu, about 150 miles east of Quetta, leading to widespread unrest in the area, where he is widely regarded as a hero and martyr.[
Early life
Akbar Bugti was the son of Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti and a grandson of Sir Shahbaz Khan Bugti. He was born in Barkhan the rural home of the rustic Khetran a ( Marri-Bugti ) Baloch tribe to which his mother belonged and now an upgraded district of Balochistan, on July 12, 1927. He was educated at Oxford University.[4] It is alleged that he committed his first murder when he was only 12 and that he had several men killed to avenge the assassination of his son, (Salal Bugti).
His main source of income was from commission he extracted from the Sui gas field amounting estimated £1 million a year and provided security to the fields for estimated £15000 per month
In politics
Nawab Akbar Bugti was elected in a by-election to the National Assembly of Pakistan in May 1958 to fill the vacancy created as a result of the assassination of the incumbent, Dr Khan Sahib, and sat on the government bench as a member of the ruling coalition. Bugti (Republican) served as Minister of State (Interior) in the government of Prime Minister Malik Sir Feroz Khan Noon (Republican) from September 20, 1958, to October 7, 1958, when the cabinet was dismissed on the declaration of Martial Law by President Iskander Mirza.
He was arrested and convicted by a Military Tribunal in 1960 and subsequently disqualified from holding public office. As a result of his legal battles, he did not contest the 1970 general elections. Instead, he campaigned on behalf of his younger brother, Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Bugti, a candidate of the National Awami Party.
Main article: Hyderabad tribunal
However, Bugti developed differences with the NAP leadership, especially the new Balochistan Governor, Ghaus Baksh Bizenjo. He informed the Federal Government and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Pakistan Peoples Party) of the alleged London Plan, which resulted in the dismissal of the provincial governor as well as the Chief Minister Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal and his cabinet on February 14, 1973. The next day, the Federal Government appointed Bugti as the Governor of Balochistan, and the Pakistan Army was deployed in the province as part of a crackdown on the National Awami Party.
He resigned on January 1, 1974, after disagreeing with the manner in which the Federal Government was carrying out policies in Balochistan. The army had deployed 100,000 men in Balochistan and with the help of the Iranian airforce killed large numbers of Balochis. Muhammad Raza Shah Pahlavi, the King of Iran, sent F-14 fighter jets and AH-1 gunships along with his pilots, to help Pakistan Army combat the insurgency. The Pakistani army is alleged to have killed more than 4000 Balochi, mostly Marri insurgents, in these operations. Akbar Bugti is said to have supported the military action.
There was a lull in his activities when General Rahimuddin Khan was appointed Governor of Balochistan in 1978. Bugti remained silent throughout the course of Rahimuddin's rule, which was often characterized by hostility towards the Baloch Sardars.
In 1988, he joined the Balochistan National Alliance and was elected Chief Minister on February 4, 1989. His government frequently disagreed with the Federal Government led by the Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan Peoples Party).
Bugti resigned on August 6, 1990, when the provincial assembly was dissolved by Governor of Balochistan General Muhammad Musa Khan in accordance with the instructions of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who was exercising his authority by virtue of Article 58 (2 b) of the Constitution of Pakistan. For the 1990 General Elections, Bugti formed his own political party, the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), being Balochistan's single largest party and was elected to the provincial assembly.
In 1993, he was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan, representing the JWP in parliament. Also, in 1993, Nawab Bugti announced his candidacy to be President of Pakistan but later withdrew his candidacy and announced his support of the eventual winner, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari. In 1997, Nawab Bugti was re-elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan, representing the JWP.
Balochistan conflict
Bugti was involved in struggles, at times armed ones, in Balochistan in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He led the current movement in Balochistan for greater autonomy. He was the public face and provided political support for the movement while his grandson, Brahamdagh Khan Bugti, led the Bugti tribesmen.[5]
In recent years, he was accused by the Pakistani government of being a warlord and running a well-organized militia, sometimes thought to be the shadowy Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) with members numbering in the thousands. The BLA allegedly ran dozens of militant guerrilla training camps. While campaigning from the mountain ranges of Dera Bugti, he was, according to the Pakistani government, directing a “Omar Mukhtar, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara” style guerrilla war. In July 2006, Pakistani president General Musharraf targeted him through aerial bombing, using air force jets and gunship helicopters. The leader of Balochistan National Party, Sardar Akhtar Mengal said, "The increase in bomb attacks in the Bugti and Marri areas are meant to target Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti and his associates" and called upon the international community to take note of the situation.[6]
Death
On Saturday August 26, 2006, around 2230 hrs (PST), Bugti was killed when a shell exploded in the cave in which he was hiding. The Pakistani government says that he killed himself along with senior security officials by firing a shell when he was cornered by the Pakistani officials who had come unarmed to arrest him, resulting in the collapse of the cave.[5] Five Pakistani troops also died.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf termed his death a victory for Pakistanis and congratulated the secret service chief who carried out this operation. Pakistan's Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, confirmed that the operation included both air and ground assault. In a short telephone interview, made to a private television network, the Pakistani Information Minister said that Bugti's death occurred as the cave he was in collapsed.
In a recent article the Pakistani Journalist Hamid Mir said that the last time that he talked to Nawab Bugti, he was in the mountains and had called Mir from his satellite phone. In this last conversation with Hamid Mir, Nawab Bugti told him "Read Mir Gul Khan Nasir's book on the history of Balochistan. The Baloch have always resisted unconstitutional measures.I'm not a traitor, the people who go against the Article 6 and take control of Pakistan are the real traitors. I, like Mir Gul Khan Nasir, only put forward the demand for Balochistan's rights. But in General Musharraf's view this is a crime punishable by death. (Bugti Laughs then continues) Your commando general will rest only after he martyrs me but after my martyrdom he will be held responsible. So now it's up to you people to either choose Musharraf or Pakistan. The choice is yours."[7][8]
Funeral and rioting
Bugti's death was followed by rioting by hundreds of students from the state-run Balochistan university.[9] As the news flashed across television screens in Pakistan, the government deployed Rangers and paramilitary forces across major cities to prevent a backlash and impose a curfew in the provincial capital, Quetta.[9] Security arrangements for the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have been beefed up to the highest level, and his movement has since been very restricted, fearing a retaliatory attack. Security arrangements have been further enhanced in and around all airports of Pakistan. The media both in Pakistan and outside have severely condemend the killing as the "[m]ilitary’s second biggest blunder after Bhutto’s execution" and calling it a "political nightmare".[10] Others have likened it to the East Bengal crisis of 1971 where military violence eventually led to the Bangladesh Liberation War.[11]
On August 27, 2006, some private media broadcast news that Bugti's grandsons, Brahamdagh and Mir Ali, are still alive, but no official confirmation has been made.[citation needed]
On September 1, 2006 Bugti was buried in Dera Bugti with three locks on his coffin, next to the graves of his son and brother. His family, who wanted a public funeral in Quetta, did not attend the burial, they protested against his body being locked in the coffin .[12]
Family
Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti, son of Sir Shahbaz Khan Bugti had two sons, Nawab Akbar Bugti and Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Bugti. Nawab Akbar Bugti had three wives and six sons and two daughters. His Baloch wife gave birth to four sons: Nawabzada Saleem Khan Bugti, Nawabzada Talal Khan Bugti, Nawabzada Salal Khan Bugti, and Nawabzada Rehan Khan Bugti. Of these four sons, three have died. Nawabzada Salal Bugti was murdered in a shootout in Quetta by the rival Bugti Kalpar sub clan in 1993. Nawab Akbar Bugti's second wife was a Pathan; she gave birth to Nawabzada Jameel Khan Bugti. Nawab Akbar Bugti's third wife was Iranian, and she gave birth to Shahzwar Khan Bugti. Jamil Akbar Bugti, Talal Akbar Bugti, and Shahzwar Khan Bugti are the surviving sons of Nawab Akbar Bugti. Sardar Nawab Akbar Bugti's daughter is married to Mir Balakh Sher Mazari's son who is the chieftain of the neighbouring Mazari tribe. Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Bugti had four sons: Tanvir Khan, Anees Khan, Farooq Khan, and Naveed Khan. Tanvir Khan, who was the oldest, also passed away in 1991 due to natural causes.
The Bugti Grandchildren consist of Brahamdagh Khan Bugti, Mir Aali Khan Bugti, Washane Bugti, Ahmad Marri, Muhammad Marri, Sarang Khan Bugti, Taleh Bugti, Shahzain Bugti, Saad Khan Bugti, Gohram Bugti, Tabish Bugti.
Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti (Urdu: نواب اکبر شہاز خان بگٹی) (July 12, 1927–August 26, 2006) was the Tumandar (head) of the Bugti tribe of Baloch and served as Minister of State for Interior and Governor of Balochistan Province in Pakistan.[1]
After an armed struggle started in Balochistan in 2004, Bugti was widely perceived as a leader but went underground in 2005. On August 26, 2006, after several attempts were made on his life in the preceding months,[2] he was killed in his cave in Kohlu, about 150 miles east of Quetta, leading to widespread unrest in the area, where he is widely regarded as a hero and martyr.[
Early life
Akbar Bugti was the son of Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti and a grandson of Sir Shahbaz Khan Bugti. He was born in Barkhan the rural home of the rustic Khetran a ( Marri-Bugti ) Baloch tribe to which his mother belonged and now an upgraded district of Balochistan, on July 12, 1927. He was educated at Oxford University.[4] It is alleged that he committed his first murder when he was only 12 and that he had several men killed to avenge the assassination of his son, (Salal Bugti).
His main source of income was from commission he extracted from the Sui gas field amounting estimated £1 million a year and provided security to the fields for estimated £15000 per month
In politics
Nawab Akbar Bugti was elected in a by-election to the National Assembly of Pakistan in May 1958 to fill the vacancy created as a result of the assassination of the incumbent, Dr Khan Sahib, and sat on the government bench as a member of the ruling coalition. Bugti (Republican) served as Minister of State (Interior) in the government of Prime Minister Malik Sir Feroz Khan Noon (Republican) from September 20, 1958, to October 7, 1958, when the cabinet was dismissed on the declaration of Martial Law by President Iskander Mirza.
He was arrested and convicted by a Military Tribunal in 1960 and subsequently disqualified from holding public office. As a result of his legal battles, he did not contest the 1970 general elections. Instead, he campaigned on behalf of his younger brother, Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Bugti, a candidate of the National Awami Party.
Main article: Hyderabad tribunal
However, Bugti developed differences with the NAP leadership, especially the new Balochistan Governor, Ghaus Baksh Bizenjo. He informed the Federal Government and President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Pakistan Peoples Party) of the alleged London Plan, which resulted in the dismissal of the provincial governor as well as the Chief Minister Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal and his cabinet on February 14, 1973. The next day, the Federal Government appointed Bugti as the Governor of Balochistan, and the Pakistan Army was deployed in the province as part of a crackdown on the National Awami Party.
He resigned on January 1, 1974, after disagreeing with the manner in which the Federal Government was carrying out policies in Balochistan. The army had deployed 100,000 men in Balochistan and with the help of the Iranian airforce killed large numbers of Balochis. Muhammad Raza Shah Pahlavi, the King of Iran, sent F-14 fighter jets and AH-1 gunships along with his pilots, to help Pakistan Army combat the insurgency. The Pakistani army is alleged to have killed more than 4000 Balochi, mostly Marri insurgents, in these operations. Akbar Bugti is said to have supported the military action.
There was a lull in his activities when General Rahimuddin Khan was appointed Governor of Balochistan in 1978. Bugti remained silent throughout the course of Rahimuddin's rule, which was often characterized by hostility towards the Baloch Sardars.
In 1988, he joined the Balochistan National Alliance and was elected Chief Minister on February 4, 1989. His government frequently disagreed with the Federal Government led by the Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan Peoples Party).
Bugti resigned on August 6, 1990, when the provincial assembly was dissolved by Governor of Balochistan General Muhammad Musa Khan in accordance with the instructions of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, who was exercising his authority by virtue of Article 58 (2 b) of the Constitution of Pakistan. For the 1990 General Elections, Bugti formed his own political party, the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), being Balochistan's single largest party and was elected to the provincial assembly.
In 1993, he was elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan, representing the JWP in parliament. Also, in 1993, Nawab Bugti announced his candidacy to be President of Pakistan but later withdrew his candidacy and announced his support of the eventual winner, Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari. In 1997, Nawab Bugti was re-elected to the National Assembly of Pakistan, representing the JWP.
Balochistan conflict
Bugti was involved in struggles, at times armed ones, in Balochistan in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. He led the current movement in Balochistan for greater autonomy. He was the public face and provided political support for the movement while his grandson, Brahamdagh Khan Bugti, led the Bugti tribesmen.[5]
In recent years, he was accused by the Pakistani government of being a warlord and running a well-organized militia, sometimes thought to be the shadowy Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) with members numbering in the thousands. The BLA allegedly ran dozens of militant guerrilla training camps. While campaigning from the mountain ranges of Dera Bugti, he was, according to the Pakistani government, directing a “Omar Mukhtar, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara” style guerrilla war. In July 2006, Pakistani president General Musharraf targeted him through aerial bombing, using air force jets and gunship helicopters. The leader of Balochistan National Party, Sardar Akhtar Mengal said, "The increase in bomb attacks in the Bugti and Marri areas are meant to target Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti and his associates" and called upon the international community to take note of the situation.[6]
Death
On Saturday August 26, 2006, around 2230 hrs (PST), Bugti was killed when a shell exploded in the cave in which he was hiding. The Pakistani government says that he killed himself along with senior security officials by firing a shell when he was cornered by the Pakistani officials who had come unarmed to arrest him, resulting in the collapse of the cave.[5] Five Pakistani troops also died.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf termed his death a victory for Pakistanis and congratulated the secret service chief who carried out this operation. Pakistan's Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, confirmed that the operation included both air and ground assault. In a short telephone interview, made to a private television network, the Pakistani Information Minister said that Bugti's death occurred as the cave he was in collapsed.
In a recent article the Pakistani Journalist Hamid Mir said that the last time that he talked to Nawab Bugti, he was in the mountains and had called Mir from his satellite phone. In this last conversation with Hamid Mir, Nawab Bugti told him "Read Mir Gul Khan Nasir's book on the history of Balochistan. The Baloch have always resisted unconstitutional measures.I'm not a traitor, the people who go against the Article 6 and take control of Pakistan are the real traitors. I, like Mir Gul Khan Nasir, only put forward the demand for Balochistan's rights. But in General Musharraf's view this is a crime punishable by death. (Bugti Laughs then continues) Your commando general will rest only after he martyrs me but after my martyrdom he will be held responsible. So now it's up to you people to either choose Musharraf or Pakistan. The choice is yours."[7][8]
Funeral and rioting
Bugti's death was followed by rioting by hundreds of students from the state-run Balochistan university.[9] As the news flashed across television screens in Pakistan, the government deployed Rangers and paramilitary forces across major cities to prevent a backlash and impose a curfew in the provincial capital, Quetta.[9] Security arrangements for the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf have been beefed up to the highest level, and his movement has since been very restricted, fearing a retaliatory attack. Security arrangements have been further enhanced in and around all airports of Pakistan. The media both in Pakistan and outside have severely condemend the killing as the "[m]ilitary’s second biggest blunder after Bhutto’s execution" and calling it a "political nightmare".[10] Others have likened it to the East Bengal crisis of 1971 where military violence eventually led to the Bangladesh Liberation War.[11]
On August 27, 2006, some private media broadcast news that Bugti's grandsons, Brahamdagh and Mir Ali, are still alive, but no official confirmation has been made.[citation needed]
On September 1, 2006 Bugti was buried in Dera Bugti with three locks on his coffin, next to the graves of his son and brother. His family, who wanted a public funeral in Quetta, did not attend the burial, they protested against his body being locked in the coffin .[12]
Family
Nawab Mehrab Khan Bugti, son of Sir Shahbaz Khan Bugti had two sons, Nawab Akbar Bugti and Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Bugti. Nawab Akbar Bugti had three wives and six sons and two daughters. His Baloch wife gave birth to four sons: Nawabzada Saleem Khan Bugti, Nawabzada Talal Khan Bugti, Nawabzada Salal Khan Bugti, and Nawabzada Rehan Khan Bugti. Of these four sons, three have died. Nawabzada Salal Bugti was murdered in a shootout in Quetta by the rival Bugti Kalpar sub clan in 1993. Nawab Akbar Bugti's second wife was a Pathan; she gave birth to Nawabzada Jameel Khan Bugti. Nawab Akbar Bugti's third wife was Iranian, and she gave birth to Shahzwar Khan Bugti. Jamil Akbar Bugti, Talal Akbar Bugti, and Shahzwar Khan Bugti are the surviving sons of Nawab Akbar Bugti. Sardar Nawab Akbar Bugti's daughter is married to Mir Balakh Sher Mazari's son who is the chieftain of the neighbouring Mazari tribe. Sardar Ahmed Nawaz Bugti had four sons: Tanvir Khan, Anees Khan, Farooq Khan, and Naveed Khan. Tanvir Khan, who was the oldest, also passed away in 1991 due to natural causes.
The Bugti Grandchildren consist of Brahamdagh Khan Bugti, Mir Aali Khan Bugti, Washane Bugti, Ahmad Marri, Muhammad Marri, Sarang Khan Bugti, Taleh Bugti, Shahzain Bugti, Saad Khan Bugti, Gohram Bugti, Tabish Bugti.
Abdul Qadeer Khan
Abdul Qadeer Khan
Abdul Qadeer Khan or A. Q. Khan- Hilal-i-Imtiaz (HI), Nishan-i-Imtiaz (NI) (twice), (Urdu: عبدالقدیر خان; born April 27, 1936 in Bhopal, British India) is a Pakistani nuclear scientist and metallurgical engineer, widely regarded as the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program. His middle name is occasionally rendered as Quadeer, Qadir or Qadeer, and his given names are usually abbreviated to A.Q. Khan is perhaps better known in much of the world for his involvement in nuclear proliferation - involvement in acquiring critical nuclear technology designs and using them to build Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, as well as selling this technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Some of his critics have described him as the "Klaus Fuchs of Pakistan".[2]
In January 2004, Khan confessed to having been involved in an international network of nuclear weapons technology proliferation from Pakistan to Libya, Iran and North Korea. However, owing to domestic pressure from radical groups, on February 5, 2004, the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, announced that he had pardoned Khan. Khan is widely seen as a national hero in Pakistan.[3]
In an August 23, 2005 interview with Kyodo News General Pervez Musharraf confirmed that Khan had supplied gas centrifuges and gas centrifuge parts to North Korea and, possibly, an amount of uranium hexafluoride.[4]
In interviews from May through July 2008, Khan recanted his previous confession of his involvement with Iran and North Korea. He said President Pervez Musharraf forced him to be a "scapegoat" for the "national interest."[5][6] Khan accuses the Pakistan Army and President Musharraf of proliferating nuclear arms.[7] He said centrifuges were sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. He also said that he had traveled to North Korea in 1999 with a Pakistani Army general to buy shoulder-launched missiles from the government there.[8]
Islamabad High Court on February 6, 2009 declared Dr. A. Q. Khan as a free citizen of Pakistan with freedom of movement inside the country. The verdict was rendered by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam.[9]
Early life
Khan was born in a Malik family in Bhopal, India in 1936. In 1947 the family, emigrated from India to Pakistan. Khan studied in St. Anthony's High School and then enrolled at the D. J. Science College of Karachi, where he studied physics and mathematics under the supervision of noted solar physicist dr. Bashir Syed. He obtained a B.Sc. degree in 1960 from the University of Karachi, majoring in physical metallurgy. After his graduation, he worked as an inspector of weight and measures in Karachi. In 1961, he resigned from his position and flew to West Germany to study metallurgical engineering at a technical university there. He then obtained an engineer's degree in 1967 from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, and a Ph.D. degree in metallurgical engineering under the supervision of dr. Martin Brabers from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium[10], just outside of Brussels, in 1972.
[edit] Work in the Netherlands
In 1972, the year he received his PhD, Khan joined the staff of the Physical Dynamics Research Laboratory (FDO) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. FDO was a subcontractor for URENCO, the uranium enrichment facility at Almelo in the Netherlands, which had been established in 1970 by the United Kingdom, West Germany, and the Netherlands to assure a supply of enriched uranium for the European nuclear reactors. The URENCO facility used Zippe-type centrifuge technology to separate the fissionable isotope uranium-235 out of uranium hexafluoride gas by spinning a mixture of the two isotopes at up to 100,000 revolutions a minute. The technical details of these centrifuge systems are regulated as secret information by export controls because they could be used for the purposes of nuclear proliferation.
In May 1974, India carried out its first nuclear test, codenamed Smiling Buddha, to the great alarm of the Government of Pakistan. Around this time, Khan having a distinguished career and being one of the most senior scientists at the nuclear plant he worked at, had privileged access to the most restricted areas of the URENCO facility as well as to documentation on the gas centrifuge technology. India's surprise nuclear test and the subsequent Pakistani scramble to establish a deterrent caused great alarm to the Pakistani government as well as the Pakistani diaspora including individuals like Khan. A subsequent investigation by the Dutch authorities found that he had passed highly-classified material to a network of Pakistani intelligence agents; however, they found no evidence that he was sent to the Netherlands as a spy nor were they able to determine whether he approached the Government of Pakistan about espionage first or whether they had approached him. In December 1975, after having stolen the gas centrifuge blueprints, Khan suddenly left the Netherlands; he returned to Pakistan in 1976.[11].
The former Dutch Prime Minister, Ruud Lubbers, said in early August 2005 that the Government of the Netherlands knew of Khan "stealing" the secrets of nuclear technology but let him go on at least two occasions after the CIA expressed their wish to continue monitoring his movements.[12][13]
[edit] Relationship with Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Khan did have a good and mutual relationship with Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. After India’s first successful nuclear test on May 18, 1974. Khan, at this time working in a centrifuge production facility in the Netherlands, began to approach Pakistani government representatives to offer help with Pakistan’s nuclear program. At first, he approached a pair of Pakistani military scientists who were in the Netherlands on business. In spite of his offers, the Pakistani military scientists discouraged him by saying: "As a metallurgical engineer, it would be a hard job for him to find a job in PAEC (Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission)".
Undaunted, Khan wrote a letter to Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. His letter addressed to Prime Minister Bhutto that "he sets out his experience and encourages Prime Minister Bhutto to make a nuclear bomb using uranium, rather than plutonium, the method Pakistan is currently trying to adopt under the leadership of Munir Ahmad Khan".
On December, 1974, Khan came back to Pakistan to meet Prime Minister Bhutto and PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan, where he tried to convince Bhutto to adopt his Uranium route rather than Plutonium route. Bhutto did not agree to halt the plutonium route but decided on the spot to place Khan in charge of the uranium program as a parallel nuclear program advantage.[14] Later that evening, Bhutto met with his close friend and PAEC Chairman Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan in his house, where he told him that that "He [Abdul Qadeer Khan] seems to make sense."
Abdul Qadeer Khan has praised Bhutto in his columns and numerous education-purpose conferences. In an interview with Jang Group of Newspapers, a leading Pakistani news paper, Khan praised Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto in which he said "Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto are credited in helping Pakistan to acquired nuclear technology." He also said "Despite international pressure, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto acted like a wall and due to his efforts, Pakistan achieved sensitive nuclear technology in a short time."[15]
[edit] Development of nuclear weapons
Main article: Project-706
In 1976, Khan and Lieutenant-General Zahid Ali Akbar were put in charge of Pakistan's uranium enrichment program with the support of the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The uranium enrichment program was announced in 1972 and the work itself began in 1974 by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) as Project-706 under the guidance of Munir Ahmad Khan, Khan joined the project in the spring of 1976. Khan took over the project from another Pakistani nuclear engineer, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood in the same year. In July of that year, he took over the project from PAEC and re-named the enrichment project as the Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL) at Kahuta, Rawalpindi, subsequently, renamed the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) by the then President of Pakistan, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. The laboratories became the focal point for developing a uranium enrichment capability for Pakistan's nuclear weapons development programme.
[edit] Competing Against Munir Ahmad Khan and PAEC
But Kahuta Research Laboratories led by Khan was not mandated or involved with the actual design, development and testing of Pakistan's nuclear weapons which was the responsibility of PAEC. Nor was Kahuta Research Laboratories responsible for developing the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle, which comprised of uranium exploration, mining, refining and the production of yellow cake as well as the conversion of yellow cake into uranium hexafluoride gas which is the feed material for enrichment and nuclear fuel fabrication or the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle comprising the civil and military nuclear reactor projects and the reprocessing program, all of which was developed and led from 1972 onwards by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission under Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan.
Khan initially worked under Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), headed by Munir Ahmad Khan, for a short period. But the pair fell out, and in July 1976, Prime Minister Bhutto gave Khan autonomous control of the uranium enrichment project, reporting directly to the Prime Minister's office, which the arrangement has continued since Khan founded the Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL) on 31 July 1976, with the exclusive task of indigenous development of Uranium Enrichment Plant. Within the next five years the target would be achieved.[16]
Kahuta Research Laboratories, led by Khan and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which was led by Munir Ahmad Khan created a tough institutional rivalry against each other. Khan was also a staunch critic of Munir Ahmad Khan's work. The Monthly Atlantic described Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan and Abdul Qadeer Khan as a "mortal enemy" of each other. According to the The Monthly Atlantic, A.Q. Khan tried to convince Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto that Uranium route would be faster than Munir Ahmad Khan's pursuit of plutonium reprocessing, then under way.[17] However, Munir Ahmad Khan and his team of nuclear engineers and nuclear physicists at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission believed that they could run the reactor without Canadian assistance, and they insisted that with the French extraction plant in the offing, Pakistan should stick with its original plan. Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did not disagree, but he saw the advantage of mounting a parallel effort toward enriched uranium and decided on the spot to place A.Q. Khan in charge.[17]
In the early 1980s, Khan's Kahuta Research Laboratories also sought to develop nuclear weapons in competition with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and claimed to have carried out at least one cold test in 1983, but it seems that this effort did not prove to be successful since the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission led by Munir Ahmad Khan had carried out the first cold test of a working nuclear device on March 11, 1983, and in the following years continued to carry out 24 cold tests of different weapons designs. That is why the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission also conducted the 1998 nuclear tests for Pakistan at Chagai and Kharan.
Kahuta Research Laboratories also launched other weapons development projects in competition with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission such as the development of the nuclear weapons-capable Ghauri missile. In early 1980s, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was developing the solid-fuelled Shaheen ballistic missile. In competition with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, A.Q. Khan's Kahuta Lab. sought develop the liquid-fuelled Ghauri ballistic missile. Kahuta also sat up its own laboratories and produced its both Low-Enriched Uranium [LEU] and Highly Enriched Uranium [HEU] in competition with the PAEC.
The competition between KRL and PAEC became highly intense when India tested its nuclear test, Pokhran-II in 1998. India's second nuclear test caused a great alarm in Pakistan but the situation in Pakistan became more critical when then-Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif came into intense public pressure from Pakistani society to reply to India by conducting its own nuclear tests. Abdul Qadeer Khan repeatedly met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in which he tried to get Prime Minister's permission to test Pakistan's nuclear weapons in Chagai. Despite his efforts, Nawaz Sharif instead granted permission to PAEC, under Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad to test country's first nuclear test. The decision made by Nawaz Sharif was questioned by the Pakistani civil society. However, Nawaz Sharif avoided an intense rivalry between PAEC and KRL and asked A.Q. Khan to provide KRL's enriched uranium to the PAEC to test Pakistan's first nuclear tests in 1998. Nawaz Sharif also urged both KRL and PAEC to work together in the national interest of country. It was the enriched uranium in KRL that ultimately led to the successful detonation of Pakistan's first nuclear device on 28 May 1998.[16] Two days later, on May 30 1998, PAEC tested a Plutonium-based nuclear device, according to a Pakistani defense analyst, the plutonium-based device was much powerful than Uranium device.
[edit] Relationships with the Pakistan Armed Forces
According to the media reports, it said that A.Q. Khan had an extremely close relationship with President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and the Military of Pakistan. Khan had also maintained an extremely close relationships with the Pakistan Air Force.
Khan Research Laboratories, as it was now known as, occupied a unique role in Pakistan Defense Industry, reporting directly to the office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and having extremely close relations with the Military of Pakistan. The former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto (late) once mentioned that during her term of office, even she was not allowed to visit Khan Research Laboratories. After President Zia-ul-Haq death, Khan sought to develop a close and friendly relationship with Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan) General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg. According to Khan, General Mirza Aslam Beg was aware of the selling of nuclear technology to Iran and North Korea and one of his top-trusted general was supervising it.
Khan has praised President Zia ul-Haq in his columns and numerous conferences. In an interview with Jang Group of Newspapers, Khan paid a tribute to General Zia-ul-Haq, in which he said "President General Zia-ul-Haq (late) is responsible in helping Pakistan acquire sensitive nuclear technology. He also said that he made significant contributions towards the country's nuclear program.
[edit] Heading Kahuta Research Laboratories and Khan Labs
Pakistan's establishment of its own uranium enrichment capability was so rapid that international suspicion was raised as to whether there was outside assistance to this program. It was reported that Chinese technicians had been at the facility in the early 1980s, but suspicions soon fell on Khan's activities at URENCO. In 1983, Khan was sentenced in absentia to four years in prison by an Amsterdam court for attempted espionage; the sentence was later overturned at an appeal on a legal technicality. Khan rejected any suggestion that Pakistan had illicitly acquired nuclear expertise: "All the research work [at Kahuta] was the result of our innovation and struggle," he told a group of Pakistani librarians in 1990. "We did not receive any technical know-how from abroad, but we cannot reject the use of books, magazines, and research papers in this connection."[citation needed]
In 1987, a British newspaper reported that Khan had confirmed Pakistan's acquisition of a nuclear weapons development capability, by his saying that the U.S. intelligence report "about our possessing the bomb (nuclear weapon) is correct and so is speculation of some foreign newspapers".[citation needed] Khan's statement was disavowed by the Government of Pakistan. and initially he denied giving it, but he later retracted his denial. In October 1991, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that Khan had repeated his claim at a dinner meeting of businessmen and industrialists in Karachi, which "sent a wave of jubilation" through the audience.[citation needed]
During the 1980s and 1990s, the Western governments became increasingly convinced that covert nuclear and ballistic missile collaboration was taking place between China, Pakistan, and North Korea. According to the Washington Post, "U.S. intelligence operatives secretly rifled Dr. A.Q. [Khan's] luggage ... during an overseas trip in the early 1980s to find the first concrete evidence of Chinese collaboration with Pakistan's [nuclear] bomb effort: a drawing of a crude, but highly reliable, Hiroshima-sized [nuclear] weapon that must have come directly from Beijing, according to the U.S. officials." In October 1990, the activities of KRL led to the United States terminating economic and military aid to Pakistan, following this, the Government of Pakistan agreed to a freeze in its nuclear weapons development program. But Khan, in a July 1996 interview with the Pakistani weekly Friday Times, said that "at no stage was the program [of producing nuclear weapons-grade enriched uranium] ever stopped".[18]
[edit] Nuclear Proliferation and Rise to Fame
The American clampdown may have prompted an increasing reliance on Chinese and North Korean nuclear and missile expertise. In 1995, the U.S. Government learned that KRL had bought 5,000 specialized magnets from a Chinese Government-owned company, for use in the uranium enrichment equipment. More worryingly, it was reported that the Pakistani nuclear weapons technology was being exported to other states aspirant of nuclear weapons, notably, North Korea. In May 1998, Newsweek magazine published an article alleging that Khan had offered to sell nuclear know-how to Iraq, an allegation that he denied. United Nations arms inspectors apparently discovered documents discussing Dr. Khan's purported offer in Iraq; Iraqi officials said the documents were authentic but that they had not agreed to work with Khan, fearing it was a sting operation.[citation needed] A few weeks later, both India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests (Pokhran-II and Chagai-I, respectively) that confirmed both countries' development of nuclear weapons. The tests were greeted with jubilation in both countries; in Pakistan, dr. Khan was feted as a national hero. The President of Pakistan, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, awarded a Nishan-e-Imtiaz second time to him for his role in masterminding the Pakistani nuclear weapons development programme. The United States immediately imposed sanctions on both India and Pakistan and publicly blamed China for assisting Pakistan.
[edit] Involvement in Pakistan's Space Program
After his active role in Pakistan's nuclear program Khan sought to re-organize and revitalize the Pakistani's national space agency, SUPARCO. In the late of 1990s, Khan was actively and heavily involved in Pakistan's space program, especially the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) and Pakistan's first Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project. He also worked closely with SUPARCO's scientists in development and construction of Pakistan's first indigenously constructed launch facility and space port, Tilla Satellite Launch Center at Tilla District.
In 1999, Khan met with then-chief executive of Pakistan General Pervez Mushrraf with his indigenously self-designed Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite. He briefed chief executive of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf.
He also suggested that Pakistan should launch a satellite from its own space centers and satellite launch centers. But General Musharraf seemed not to agree with him and did not grant him permission to develop his satellite. He was highly disappointed and he wrote about it in his column.[19]
In March 2001, Khan announced that Pakistani scientists were in the process of building the country's first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) and that the project had been assigned to SUPARCO, which also built the Badr satellites. Khan also cited the fact that India had made rapid strides in the fields of SLV and satellite manufacture as another motivation for developing an indigenous launch capabilities.[20] He tried to convinced then-President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf to launch the satellite from Pakistan. On December 10, 2001, despite his efforts, Pakistan launched its second Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Zenit-2.
[edit] Investigations into Pakistan's nuclear proliferation
Khan's open promotion of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities became something of an embarrassment to Pakistan's government. The United States government became increasingly convinced that Pakistan was trading nuclear weapons technology to North Korea in exchange for ballistic missile technology. In the face of strong U.S. criticism, the Pakistani government announced in March 2001 that Khan was to be dismissed from his post as Chairman of Kahuta Research Laboratories, a move that drew strong criticism from the religious and nationalist opposition to Pervez Musharraf. Perhaps in response to this, the Government of Pakistan appointed Khan to the post of Special Science and Technology Adviser to the President, with the status of federal minister. While this could be regarded as a promotion for Khan, it removed him from hands-on management of KRL and gave the government an opportunity to keep a closer eye on his activities. In 2002, the Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed "senior Pakistani Government officials" as conceding that Khan's dismissal from KRL had been prompted by the U.S. government's suspicions of his involvement in nuclear weapons technology transfers with North Korea.
Khan came under renewed scrutiny following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S. and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan to oust the fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan. It emerged that al-Qaeda had made repeated efforts to obtain nuclear weapons materials to build either a radiological bomb or a crude nuclear bomb. In late October 2001, the Pakistani government arrested three Pakistani chief nuclear scientists, all with close ties to Khan, for their suspected connections with the Taliban.
The Bush administration continued to investigate Pakistani nuclear weapons proliferation, ratcheting up the pressure on the Pakistani government in 2001 and 2002 and focusing on Khan's personal role. It was alleged in December 2002 that U.S. intelligence officials had found evidence that an unidentified agent, supposedly acting on Khan's behalf, had offered nuclear weapons expertise to Iraq in the mid-1990s, though Khan strongly denied this allegation and the Pakistani government declared the evidence to be "fraudulent". The United States responded by imposing sanctions on KRL, citing concerns about ballistic missile technology transfers.
[edit] 2003 revelations from Iran and Libya
In 2003, Libya gave up nuclear weapons-related material including these centrifuges that were acquired from Pakistan's AQ Khan nuclear "black market".[21]
In August 2003, reports emerged of dealings with Iran; it was claimed that Khan had offered to sell nuclear weapons technology to that country as early as 1989. The Iranian government came under intense pressure from the United States and the European Union to make a full disclosure of its nuclear programme and, finally, agreed in October 2003 to accept tougher investigations from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA reported that Iran had established a large uranium enrichment facility using gas centrifuges based on the "stolen" URENCO designs, which had been obtained "from a foreign intermediary in 1987." The intermediary was not named but many diplomats and analysts pointed to Pakistan and, specifically, to Dr. Khan, who was said to have visited Iran in 1986. The Iranians turned over the names of their suppliers and the international inspectors quickly identified the Iranian gas centrifuges as Pak-1's, the model of intense [HEU] that was indegeniously developed by Dr. Khan in the early 1980s. In December 2003, two senior staff members at Khan Labs or KL were arrested on suspicion of having sold nuclear weapons technology to the Iranians.
Also in December 2003, Libya made a surprise announcement that it had weapons of mass destruction programmes which it would now abandon. Libyan government officials were quoted as saying that Libya had bought nuclear components from various black market dealers, including Pakistani nuclear scientists. U.S. officials who visited the Libyan uranium enrichment plants shortly afterwards reported that the gas centrifuges used there were very similar to the Iranian ones. The IAEA officials also visited to the Libyan nuclear plant where they found the models of Paksat-1. The Interpol police also arrested three Swiss nuclear scientists, who were known to be Khan's close associate and friends.
[edit] Dismissal, confession, and pardon
[edit] Investigation and confession
The Pakistani government's blanket denials became untenable as evidence mounted of illicit nuclear weapons technology transfers. It opened an investigation into Khan's activities, arguing that even if there had been wrongdoing, it had occurred without the Government of Pakistan's knowledge or approval. But critics noted that virtually all of Khan's overseas travels, to Iran, Libya, North Korea, Niger, Mali, and the Middle East, were on official Pakistan government aircraft which he commandeered at will, given the status he enjoyed in Pakistan. Often, he was accompanied by senior members of the Pakistan nuclear establishment.
Although he was not arrested, Khan was summoned for "debriefing". On January 25, 2004, Pakistani investigators reported that Khan and Mohammed Farooq, a high-ranking manager at KRL, had provided unauthorised technical assistance to Iran's nuclear weapons program in the late 1980s and early 1990s, allegedly in exchange for tens of millions of dollars. General Mirza Aslam Beg, a former Chief of Army Staff at the time, was also said to have been implicated; the Wall Street Journal quoted U.S. government officials as saying that Khan had told the investigators that the nuclear weapons technology transfers to Iran had been authorised by General Mirza Aslam Beg.[22]. On January 31, Khan was dismissed from his post as the Science Adviser to the President of Pakistan, ostensibly to "allow a fair investigation" of the nuclear weapons technology proliferation allegations.
In early February 2004, the Government of Pakistan reported that Khan had signed a confession indicating that he had provided Iran, Libya, and North Korea with designs and technology to aid in nuclear weapons programs, and said that the government had not been complicit in the proliferation activities. The Pakistani official who made the announcement said that Khan had admitted to transferring technology and information to Iran between 1989 and 1991, to North Korea and Libya between 1991 and 1997 (U.S. officials at the time maintained that transfers had continued with Libya until 2003), and additional technology to North Korea up until 2000.[23] On February 4, 2004, Khan appeared on national television and confessed to running a proliferation ring; he was pardoned the next day by Musharraf, the Pakistani president, but held under house arrest.[24]
[edit] Information coming from the investigation
The full scope of the Khan network is not fully known. Centrifuge components were apparently manufactured in Malaysia with the aid of South Asian and German middlemen, and used a Dubai computer company as a false front. According to Western sources, Khan had three motivations for his proliferation: 1. a defiance of Western nations and an eagerness to pierce the "clouds of so-called secrecy," 2. an eagerness to give nuclear technology to Muslim nations, and 3. money, acquiring wealth and real estate in his dealings. Much of the technology he sold was second-hand from Pakistan's own nuclear program and involved many of the same logistical connections which he had used to develop the Pakistani bomb.[3] In Malaysia, Khan was helped by Sri Lanka-born Buhary Sayed Abu Tahir, who shuttled between Kuala Lumpur and Dubai to arrange for the manufacture of centrifuge components.[24] The Khan investigation also revealed how many European companies were defying export restrictions and aiding the Khan network as well as the production of the Pakistani bomb. Dutch companies exported thousands of centrifuges to Pakistan as early as 1976, and a German company exported facilities for the production of tritium to the country.[25]
The investigation exposed Israeli businessman Asher Karni as having sold nuclear devices to Khan's associates. Karni is currently awaiting trial in a U.S. prison. Tahir was arrested in Malaysia in May 2004 under a Malaysian law allowing for the detention of individuals posing a security threat.[24]
[edit] Pardon and U.S. reaction
On February 5, 2004, the day after Khan's televised confession, he was pardoned by Pakistani President Musharraf. However, Khan remained under house arrest.
The United States government imposed no sanctions on the Pakistani government following the confession and pardon. U.S. government officials said that in the War on Terrorism, it was not their goal to denounce or imprison people but "to get results." Sanctions on Pakistan or demands for an independent investigation of the Pakistani military might have led to restrictions on or the loss of use of Pakistan military bases needed by US and NATO troops in Afghanistan. "It's just another case where you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar," a U.S. government official explained.[citation needed] The U.S. also refrained from applying further direct pressure on Pakistan to disclose more about Khan's activities due to a strategic calculation that such pressure might topple President Musharraf.
In a speech to the National Defense University on February 11, 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed to reform the International Atomic Energy Agency: "No state, under investigation for proliferation violations, should be allowed to serve on the IAEA Board of Governors—or on the new special committee. And any state currently on the Board that comes under investigation should be suspended from the Board. The integrity and mission of the IAEA depends on this simple principle: Those actively breaking the rules should not be entrusted with enforcing the rules."[26] The Bush proposal was seen as targeted against Pakistan which, currently, serves a regular term on the IAEA's Board of Governors. It has not received attention from other governments.
In western media, Khan became a major symbol of the threat of proliferation. In February 2005, he was featured on the cover of U.S.-based Time magazine as the "Merchant of Menace", labeled "the world's most dangerous nuclear trafficker," and in November 2005, the Atlantic Monthly ran a cover on Khan ("The Wrath of Khan") that featured a picture of a mushroom cloud behind Khan's head.
[edit] Subsequent developments
[edit] Questioning
In September 2005, Musharraf revealed that after two years of questioning Khan — which the Pakistani government insisted to do itself without outside intervention — that they had confirmed that Khan had supplied centrifuge parts to North Korea. Still undetermined was whether or not Khan passed a bomb design to North Korea or Iran that had been discovered in Libya.[27]
[edit] Renewed calls for IAEA access
Since 2005, and particularly in 2006, there have been renewed calls by IAEA officials, senior U.S. congressmen, EC politicians, and others to make Khan available for interrogation by IAEA investigators, given lingering skepticism about the "fullness" of the disclosures made by Pakistan regarding Khan's activities. In the U.S., these calls have been made by elected U.S. lawmakers rather than by the U.S. Department of State, though some interpret them as signalling growing discontent within the U.S. establishment with the current Pakistani regime headed by Musharraf.
In May 2006, the U.S House of Representatives Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation held a hearing titled, "The A.Q. Khan Network: Case Closed?" Recommendations offered by legislators and experts at this hearing included demanding that Pakistan turn over Khan to the U.S. for questioning as well as that Pakistan make further efforts to curb future nuclear proliferation. In June 2006, the Pakistani Senate, subcommittee hearing, issued a unanimous resolution criticizing the committee, stating that it will not turn over Khan to U.S. authorities and defending its sovereignty and nuclear program.
[edit] Lack of further action
Neither Khan nor any of his alleged Pakistani collaborators have yet to face any charges in Pakistan, where he remains an extremely popular figure. Khan is still seen as an outspoken nationalist for his belief that the West is inherently hostile to Islam. In Pakistan's strongly anti-U.S. climate, tough action against him posed political risks for Musharraf, who faced accusations of being too pro-U.S. from key leaders in Pakistan's Army. An additional complicating factor is that few believe that Khan acted alone and the affair risks gravely damaging the Army, which oversaw and controlled the nuclear weapons development programme and of which Musharraf was commander-in-chief, until his resignation from military service on November 28, 2007.[28] In December 2006, the Swedish Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (SWMDC) headed by Hans Blix, a former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC); said in a report that Khan could not have acted alone "without the awareness of the Pakistani Government".[29]
It has also been speculated that Khan's two daughters, who live in the UK and are UK subjects (thanks to their part-British, part-South African mother Henny), are in possession of extensive documentation linking the government of Pakistan to Khan's activities; such documentation is presumably intended to ensure that no further action is taken against Khan.[30] Conversely, both high-profile government members, such as Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq, as well as political opposition parties have expressed their support for Khan, allegations of nuclear trafficking notwithstanding.
[edit] Cancer
On August 22, 2006, the Pakistani government announced that Khan had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was undergoing treatment. On September 9, 2006, Khan was operated at Aga Khan hospital, in Karachi. According to doctors, the operation was successful, but on October 30 it was reported that his condition had deteriorated and he was suffering from deep vein thrombosis.[31]
[edit] Release from house arrest
In February 2009, two senior government officials told the Associated Press that restrictions on Khan has been removed and he is considered as a free citizen, and that Khan could meet friends and relatives either at his home or elsewhere in Pakistan. The officials said that a security detail continued to control his movements.[32]
[edit] Hospitalization
On March 5, 2008, Khan was admitted to an Islamabad hospital [33] with low blood pressure and fever [34], reportedly due to an infection. He was released four days later after "he gained significant improvement".
[edit] Pakistan army accused of proliferation
On July 4, 2008 he in an interview blamed President Musharraf and Pakistan Army for the transfer of nuclear technology, he claimed that Musharraf was aware of all the deals and he was the "Big Boss" for those deals[7].
Khan said that Pakistan gave centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army. The uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. He also said that he had travelled to North Korea in 1999 with a Pakistani Army general to buy shoulder-launched missiles from the government there. Asked why he had taken sole responsibility for the nuclear proliferation, Khan said friends, including a central figure in the ruling party at the time, had persuaded him that it was in the national interest. In return he had been promised complete freedom.[8]
In an article published on September 20, 2009 in the Sunday Times, the journalist Simon Henderson reveals of a letter written to him by Dr.Khan dated December 10, 2003, in which he alleges that he was acting precisely under the orders of the Pakistani government when he sold the designs of nuclear weapons to North Korea, Iran and Libya. He also alleges that Pakistan built a centrifuge plant for China in Hanzhong province.
[edit] Writing Columns
On November 12, 2008, he started writing weekly columns in The News International [35] and Daily Jang [36][36]. His columns heavily emphasis on the education and engineering disciplines. He advocated for the importance of engineering disciplines and importance of education. Khan who was accused of selling sensitive nuclear technology to other countries of the world, has gained a significant respect through his columns among in Pakistanis. Khan expressed his views on the of environmental issues. Dr. Khan is an avid supporter of Science and Technology education in Pakistan. Even though his columns heavily focused on the issues of education, Khan severely criticized Pervez Musharraf and his policies, in which he said because of his cruel domestic policies within Pakistan. The Taliban insurgency grew momentarily as well as instability in the country.
[edit] Contribution to Metallurgical Education in Pakistan
Dr. A.Q Khan played an important role in the establishment of engineering universities in Pakistan. As both PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan and Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad established a nuclear physics and a nuclear engineering university, Pakistan Institute of Applied Sciences and Engineering. Abdul Qadeer Khan established a metallurgy and material science institute in Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, which is known as Dr. A. Q. Khan Department of Metallurgical Engineering and material sciences. He also served as its both executive member and director there. Dr. Khan played an important and key role in establishing a research institute Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering at Karachi University. Khan introduces metallurgical engineering courses in many newly-founded universities and sciences colleges in Pakistan.
[edit] Legacy
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan is no longer associated with Pakistan's nuclear program. However, he is still widely seen as "Father of Pakistan's nuclear Program" even though he was only head of the centrifuge-based enrichment project at Kahuta and not the entire nuclear program, which was developed and run by PAEC Chairman, Munir Ahmad Khan. Dr. Khan's involvement in nuclear proliferation has shocked the entire nation and he was criticized by his peers and fellow scientists such as Dr. Pervaiz Hoodbhoy. However, Khan's debriefing heavily effected ex-President Pervez Musharraf's popularity. It also increased Anti-American feelings among some Pakistanis. Many people in Pakistan blamed the United States for Khan's house-arrest. Many journalists and the mainstream media supported Khan and expressed their sympathies to him. Opposition parties in Pakistan as well as the government coalition parties rose their voices for Khan. This created a tough position for President Musharraf as well as United States. High-profile government members such as ex-religious affairs minister Mr. Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq held a public press conference on May 2007 and expressed his support for Khan, allegations of nuclear trafficking notwithstanding. A local Pakistani journalist, Ahmed Quraishi, wrote in his column:
"We did not invent nuclear proliferation. Certainly Abdul Qadeer Khan gets no marks for originality in this area. What Khan did is wrong, but he was only walking in the footsteps of the pioneers of nuclear proliferation before him such as Klaus Fuchs. Also the British, German, Swiss and French experts and companies that criss-crossed the globe in the 1970s and 80s trying to sell components for enrichment technology, complete with secret catalogues marketing their products and services".[37]
On August, 14,1989, Khan, along with PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan, was awarded the high civilian award of "Hilal-e-Imtiaz" by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. In August 14, 1996, he was awarded the highest civilian award "Nishan-e-Imtiaz" by former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. In March 12, 1999, he was twice awarded the highest civilian award "Nishan-e-Imtiaz" from President of Pakistan Muhammad Rafiq Tarar. Khan is the only Pakistani citizen who has been twice awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz. Many Pakistani nuclear analysts and nuclear experts have concluded that Khan is a clear example of a Russian scientist of the "Sputnik Space Program", and who took the entire credit of the nuclear program and neglected his fellow scientists and fellow engineers who have worked hard equally just like him.
Khan has been awarded various honorary doctorates from many universities in Pakistan. In 1989, Khan was awarded the honorary degree of Doctorate of Science by the University of Karachi. In 1993, an honorary degree of Doctorate of Science by the Baqai Medical University, Karachi. In 1998, a D.Sc from the Hamdard University in Karachi. In 1999 he was awarded a D.Sc from Gomal University. In 2000, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctorate of Science by the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.Lahore.
Despite his international image, Khan remains widely popular among in Pakistanis and he is considered domestically to be one of the most-influential and respected scientists in Pakistan. In an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, a known political analyst, Dr. Salim Farookhi described Khan as, " the most influential and talented scientist that Pakistan has produced."[38]
[edit] Institutes named after Khan
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE), University of Karachi
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Computer Sciences, Multan
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Kahuta
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Technology (KIT), Mianwali
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Ophthalmic Research Center, Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Girls College for Computer Science, Rawalpindi
• Dr. A. Q. Khan College for Science & Technology, Rawalpindi
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Academy of Science, Gulberg, Faisalabad
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Hall & Gymnasium, Pearl Valley Public School, Rawalakot, Azad Jammu & Kashmir
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Block, Al-Markaz Al-Islami, Islamabad
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Center for Software Engineering, Islamabad
• Dr. A .Q. Khan Institute of Computer Sciences & Information Technology, Kahuta
• Dr. A .Q. Khan Institute for Developing Engineering Technologies, Lahore
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Technology & Management, Islamabad
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Block, D.J. Sindh Government Science College, Karachi
• Dr A.Q Khan Laboratory, Physics Department, Cadet College Kohat
• Zuleikha - Quadeer Science Block, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi
Abdul Qadeer Khan or A. Q. Khan- Hilal-i-Imtiaz (HI), Nishan-i-Imtiaz (NI) (twice), (Urdu: عبدالقدیر خان; born April 27, 1936 in Bhopal, British India) is a Pakistani nuclear scientist and metallurgical engineer, widely regarded as the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program. His middle name is occasionally rendered as Quadeer, Qadir or Qadeer, and his given names are usually abbreviated to A.Q. Khan is perhaps better known in much of the world for his involvement in nuclear proliferation - involvement in acquiring critical nuclear technology designs and using them to build Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, as well as selling this technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Some of his critics have described him as the "Klaus Fuchs of Pakistan".[2]
In January 2004, Khan confessed to having been involved in an international network of nuclear weapons technology proliferation from Pakistan to Libya, Iran and North Korea. However, owing to domestic pressure from radical groups, on February 5, 2004, the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, announced that he had pardoned Khan. Khan is widely seen as a national hero in Pakistan.[3]
In an August 23, 2005 interview with Kyodo News General Pervez Musharraf confirmed that Khan had supplied gas centrifuges and gas centrifuge parts to North Korea and, possibly, an amount of uranium hexafluoride.[4]
In interviews from May through July 2008, Khan recanted his previous confession of his involvement with Iran and North Korea. He said President Pervez Musharraf forced him to be a "scapegoat" for the "national interest."[5][6] Khan accuses the Pakistan Army and President Musharraf of proliferating nuclear arms.[7] He said centrifuges were sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. He also said that he had traveled to North Korea in 1999 with a Pakistani Army general to buy shoulder-launched missiles from the government there.[8]
Islamabad High Court on February 6, 2009 declared Dr. A. Q. Khan as a free citizen of Pakistan with freedom of movement inside the country. The verdict was rendered by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam.[9]
Early life
Khan was born in a Malik family in Bhopal, India in 1936. In 1947 the family, emigrated from India to Pakistan. Khan studied in St. Anthony's High School and then enrolled at the D. J. Science College of Karachi, where he studied physics and mathematics under the supervision of noted solar physicist dr. Bashir Syed. He obtained a B.Sc. degree in 1960 from the University of Karachi, majoring in physical metallurgy. After his graduation, he worked as an inspector of weight and measures in Karachi. In 1961, he resigned from his position and flew to West Germany to study metallurgical engineering at a technical university there. He then obtained an engineer's degree in 1967 from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, and a Ph.D. degree in metallurgical engineering under the supervision of dr. Martin Brabers from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium[10], just outside of Brussels, in 1972.
[edit] Work in the Netherlands
In 1972, the year he received his PhD, Khan joined the staff of the Physical Dynamics Research Laboratory (FDO) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. FDO was a subcontractor for URENCO, the uranium enrichment facility at Almelo in the Netherlands, which had been established in 1970 by the United Kingdom, West Germany, and the Netherlands to assure a supply of enriched uranium for the European nuclear reactors. The URENCO facility used Zippe-type centrifuge technology to separate the fissionable isotope uranium-235 out of uranium hexafluoride gas by spinning a mixture of the two isotopes at up to 100,000 revolutions a minute. The technical details of these centrifuge systems are regulated as secret information by export controls because they could be used for the purposes of nuclear proliferation.
In May 1974, India carried out its first nuclear test, codenamed Smiling Buddha, to the great alarm of the Government of Pakistan. Around this time, Khan having a distinguished career and being one of the most senior scientists at the nuclear plant he worked at, had privileged access to the most restricted areas of the URENCO facility as well as to documentation on the gas centrifuge technology. India's surprise nuclear test and the subsequent Pakistani scramble to establish a deterrent caused great alarm to the Pakistani government as well as the Pakistani diaspora including individuals like Khan. A subsequent investigation by the Dutch authorities found that he had passed highly-classified material to a network of Pakistani intelligence agents; however, they found no evidence that he was sent to the Netherlands as a spy nor were they able to determine whether he approached the Government of Pakistan about espionage first or whether they had approached him. In December 1975, after having stolen the gas centrifuge blueprints, Khan suddenly left the Netherlands; he returned to Pakistan in 1976.[11].
The former Dutch Prime Minister, Ruud Lubbers, said in early August 2005 that the Government of the Netherlands knew of Khan "stealing" the secrets of nuclear technology but let him go on at least two occasions after the CIA expressed their wish to continue monitoring his movements.[12][13]
[edit] Relationship with Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Khan did have a good and mutual relationship with Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. After India’s first successful nuclear test on May 18, 1974. Khan, at this time working in a centrifuge production facility in the Netherlands, began to approach Pakistani government representatives to offer help with Pakistan’s nuclear program. At first, he approached a pair of Pakistani military scientists who were in the Netherlands on business. In spite of his offers, the Pakistani military scientists discouraged him by saying: "As a metallurgical engineer, it would be a hard job for him to find a job in PAEC (Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission)".
Undaunted, Khan wrote a letter to Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. His letter addressed to Prime Minister Bhutto that "he sets out his experience and encourages Prime Minister Bhutto to make a nuclear bomb using uranium, rather than plutonium, the method Pakistan is currently trying to adopt under the leadership of Munir Ahmad Khan".
On December, 1974, Khan came back to Pakistan to meet Prime Minister Bhutto and PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan, where he tried to convince Bhutto to adopt his Uranium route rather than Plutonium route. Bhutto did not agree to halt the plutonium route but decided on the spot to place Khan in charge of the uranium program as a parallel nuclear program advantage.[14] Later that evening, Bhutto met with his close friend and PAEC Chairman Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan in his house, where he told him that that "He [Abdul Qadeer Khan] seems to make sense."
Abdul Qadeer Khan has praised Bhutto in his columns and numerous education-purpose conferences. In an interview with Jang Group of Newspapers, a leading Pakistani news paper, Khan praised Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto in which he said "Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto are credited in helping Pakistan to acquired nuclear technology." He also said "Despite international pressure, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto acted like a wall and due to his efforts, Pakistan achieved sensitive nuclear technology in a short time."[15]
[edit] Development of nuclear weapons
Main article: Project-706
In 1976, Khan and Lieutenant-General Zahid Ali Akbar were put in charge of Pakistan's uranium enrichment program with the support of the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. The uranium enrichment program was announced in 1972 and the work itself began in 1974 by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) as Project-706 under the guidance of Munir Ahmad Khan, Khan joined the project in the spring of 1976. Khan took over the project from another Pakistani nuclear engineer, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood in the same year. In July of that year, he took over the project from PAEC and re-named the enrichment project as the Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL) at Kahuta, Rawalpindi, subsequently, renamed the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) by the then President of Pakistan, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. The laboratories became the focal point for developing a uranium enrichment capability for Pakistan's nuclear weapons development programme.
[edit] Competing Against Munir Ahmad Khan and PAEC
But Kahuta Research Laboratories led by Khan was not mandated or involved with the actual design, development and testing of Pakistan's nuclear weapons which was the responsibility of PAEC. Nor was Kahuta Research Laboratories responsible for developing the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle, which comprised of uranium exploration, mining, refining and the production of yellow cake as well as the conversion of yellow cake into uranium hexafluoride gas which is the feed material for enrichment and nuclear fuel fabrication or the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle comprising the civil and military nuclear reactor projects and the reprocessing program, all of which was developed and led from 1972 onwards by Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission under Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan.
Khan initially worked under Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), headed by Munir Ahmad Khan, for a short period. But the pair fell out, and in July 1976, Prime Minister Bhutto gave Khan autonomous control of the uranium enrichment project, reporting directly to the Prime Minister's office, which the arrangement has continued since Khan founded the Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL) on 31 July 1976, with the exclusive task of indigenous development of Uranium Enrichment Plant. Within the next five years the target would be achieved.[16]
Kahuta Research Laboratories, led by Khan and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, which was led by Munir Ahmad Khan created a tough institutional rivalry against each other. Khan was also a staunch critic of Munir Ahmad Khan's work. The Monthly Atlantic described Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan and Abdul Qadeer Khan as a "mortal enemy" of each other. According to the The Monthly Atlantic, A.Q. Khan tried to convince Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto that Uranium route would be faster than Munir Ahmad Khan's pursuit of plutonium reprocessing, then under way.[17] However, Munir Ahmad Khan and his team of nuclear engineers and nuclear physicists at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission believed that they could run the reactor without Canadian assistance, and they insisted that with the French extraction plant in the offing, Pakistan should stick with its original plan. Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did not disagree, but he saw the advantage of mounting a parallel effort toward enriched uranium and decided on the spot to place A.Q. Khan in charge.[17]
In the early 1980s, Khan's Kahuta Research Laboratories also sought to develop nuclear weapons in competition with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission and claimed to have carried out at least one cold test in 1983, but it seems that this effort did not prove to be successful since the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission led by Munir Ahmad Khan had carried out the first cold test of a working nuclear device on March 11, 1983, and in the following years continued to carry out 24 cold tests of different weapons designs. That is why the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission also conducted the 1998 nuclear tests for Pakistan at Chagai and Kharan.
Kahuta Research Laboratories also launched other weapons development projects in competition with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission such as the development of the nuclear weapons-capable Ghauri missile. In early 1980s, the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission was developing the solid-fuelled Shaheen ballistic missile. In competition with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, A.Q. Khan's Kahuta Lab. sought develop the liquid-fuelled Ghauri ballistic missile. Kahuta also sat up its own laboratories and produced its both Low-Enriched Uranium [LEU] and Highly Enriched Uranium [HEU] in competition with the PAEC.
The competition between KRL and PAEC became highly intense when India tested its nuclear test, Pokhran-II in 1998. India's second nuclear test caused a great alarm in Pakistan but the situation in Pakistan became more critical when then-Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif came into intense public pressure from Pakistani society to reply to India by conducting its own nuclear tests. Abdul Qadeer Khan repeatedly met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in which he tried to get Prime Minister's permission to test Pakistan's nuclear weapons in Chagai. Despite his efforts, Nawaz Sharif instead granted permission to PAEC, under Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad to test country's first nuclear test. The decision made by Nawaz Sharif was questioned by the Pakistani civil society. However, Nawaz Sharif avoided an intense rivalry between PAEC and KRL and asked A.Q. Khan to provide KRL's enriched uranium to the PAEC to test Pakistan's first nuclear tests in 1998. Nawaz Sharif also urged both KRL and PAEC to work together in the national interest of country. It was the enriched uranium in KRL that ultimately led to the successful detonation of Pakistan's first nuclear device on 28 May 1998.[16] Two days later, on May 30 1998, PAEC tested a Plutonium-based nuclear device, according to a Pakistani defense analyst, the plutonium-based device was much powerful than Uranium device.
[edit] Relationships with the Pakistan Armed Forces
According to the media reports, it said that A.Q. Khan had an extremely close relationship with President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq and the Military of Pakistan. Khan had also maintained an extremely close relationships with the Pakistan Air Force.
Khan Research Laboratories, as it was now known as, occupied a unique role in Pakistan Defense Industry, reporting directly to the office of the Prime Minister of Pakistan and having extremely close relations with the Military of Pakistan. The former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto (late) once mentioned that during her term of office, even she was not allowed to visit Khan Research Laboratories. After President Zia-ul-Haq death, Khan sought to develop a close and friendly relationship with Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan) General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg. According to Khan, General Mirza Aslam Beg was aware of the selling of nuclear technology to Iran and North Korea and one of his top-trusted general was supervising it.
Khan has praised President Zia ul-Haq in his columns and numerous conferences. In an interview with Jang Group of Newspapers, Khan paid a tribute to General Zia-ul-Haq, in which he said "President General Zia-ul-Haq (late) is responsible in helping Pakistan acquire sensitive nuclear technology. He also said that he made significant contributions towards the country's nuclear program.
[edit] Heading Kahuta Research Laboratories and Khan Labs
Pakistan's establishment of its own uranium enrichment capability was so rapid that international suspicion was raised as to whether there was outside assistance to this program. It was reported that Chinese technicians had been at the facility in the early 1980s, but suspicions soon fell on Khan's activities at URENCO. In 1983, Khan was sentenced in absentia to four years in prison by an Amsterdam court for attempted espionage; the sentence was later overturned at an appeal on a legal technicality. Khan rejected any suggestion that Pakistan had illicitly acquired nuclear expertise: "All the research work [at Kahuta] was the result of our innovation and struggle," he told a group of Pakistani librarians in 1990. "We did not receive any technical know-how from abroad, but we cannot reject the use of books, magazines, and research papers in this connection."[citation needed]
In 1987, a British newspaper reported that Khan had confirmed Pakistan's acquisition of a nuclear weapons development capability, by his saying that the U.S. intelligence report "about our possessing the bomb (nuclear weapon) is correct and so is speculation of some foreign newspapers".[citation needed] Khan's statement was disavowed by the Government of Pakistan. and initially he denied giving it, but he later retracted his denial. In October 1991, the Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that Khan had repeated his claim at a dinner meeting of businessmen and industrialists in Karachi, which "sent a wave of jubilation" through the audience.[citation needed]
During the 1980s and 1990s, the Western governments became increasingly convinced that covert nuclear and ballistic missile collaboration was taking place between China, Pakistan, and North Korea. According to the Washington Post, "U.S. intelligence operatives secretly rifled Dr. A.Q. [Khan's] luggage ... during an overseas trip in the early 1980s to find the first concrete evidence of Chinese collaboration with Pakistan's [nuclear] bomb effort: a drawing of a crude, but highly reliable, Hiroshima-sized [nuclear] weapon that must have come directly from Beijing, according to the U.S. officials." In October 1990, the activities of KRL led to the United States terminating economic and military aid to Pakistan, following this, the Government of Pakistan agreed to a freeze in its nuclear weapons development program. But Khan, in a July 1996 interview with the Pakistani weekly Friday Times, said that "at no stage was the program [of producing nuclear weapons-grade enriched uranium] ever stopped".[18]
[edit] Nuclear Proliferation and Rise to Fame
The American clampdown may have prompted an increasing reliance on Chinese and North Korean nuclear and missile expertise. In 1995, the U.S. Government learned that KRL had bought 5,000 specialized magnets from a Chinese Government-owned company, for use in the uranium enrichment equipment. More worryingly, it was reported that the Pakistani nuclear weapons technology was being exported to other states aspirant of nuclear weapons, notably, North Korea. In May 1998, Newsweek magazine published an article alleging that Khan had offered to sell nuclear know-how to Iraq, an allegation that he denied. United Nations arms inspectors apparently discovered documents discussing Dr. Khan's purported offer in Iraq; Iraqi officials said the documents were authentic but that they had not agreed to work with Khan, fearing it was a sting operation.[citation needed] A few weeks later, both India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests (Pokhran-II and Chagai-I, respectively) that confirmed both countries' development of nuclear weapons. The tests were greeted with jubilation in both countries; in Pakistan, dr. Khan was feted as a national hero. The President of Pakistan, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, awarded a Nishan-e-Imtiaz second time to him for his role in masterminding the Pakistani nuclear weapons development programme. The United States immediately imposed sanctions on both India and Pakistan and publicly blamed China for assisting Pakistan.
[edit] Involvement in Pakistan's Space Program
After his active role in Pakistan's nuclear program Khan sought to re-organize and revitalize the Pakistani's national space agency, SUPARCO. In the late of 1990s, Khan was actively and heavily involved in Pakistan's space program, especially the Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) and Pakistan's first Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project. He also worked closely with SUPARCO's scientists in development and construction of Pakistan's first indigenously constructed launch facility and space port, Tilla Satellite Launch Center at Tilla District.
In 1999, Khan met with then-chief executive of Pakistan General Pervez Mushrraf with his indigenously self-designed Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite. He briefed chief executive of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf.
He also suggested that Pakistan should launch a satellite from its own space centers and satellite launch centers. But General Musharraf seemed not to agree with him and did not grant him permission to develop his satellite. He was highly disappointed and he wrote about it in his column.[19]
In March 2001, Khan announced that Pakistani scientists were in the process of building the country's first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) and that the project had been assigned to SUPARCO, which also built the Badr satellites. Khan also cited the fact that India had made rapid strides in the fields of SLV and satellite manufacture as another motivation for developing an indigenous launch capabilities.[20] He tried to convinced then-President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf to launch the satellite from Pakistan. On December 10, 2001, despite his efforts, Pakistan launched its second Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Zenit-2.
[edit] Investigations into Pakistan's nuclear proliferation
Khan's open promotion of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities became something of an embarrassment to Pakistan's government. The United States government became increasingly convinced that Pakistan was trading nuclear weapons technology to North Korea in exchange for ballistic missile technology. In the face of strong U.S. criticism, the Pakistani government announced in March 2001 that Khan was to be dismissed from his post as Chairman of Kahuta Research Laboratories, a move that drew strong criticism from the religious and nationalist opposition to Pervez Musharraf. Perhaps in response to this, the Government of Pakistan appointed Khan to the post of Special Science and Technology Adviser to the President, with the status of federal minister. While this could be regarded as a promotion for Khan, it removed him from hands-on management of KRL and gave the government an opportunity to keep a closer eye on his activities. In 2002, the Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed "senior Pakistani Government officials" as conceding that Khan's dismissal from KRL had been prompted by the U.S. government's suspicions of his involvement in nuclear weapons technology transfers with North Korea.
Khan came under renewed scrutiny following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S. and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan to oust the fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan. It emerged that al-Qaeda had made repeated efforts to obtain nuclear weapons materials to build either a radiological bomb or a crude nuclear bomb. In late October 2001, the Pakistani government arrested three Pakistani chief nuclear scientists, all with close ties to Khan, for their suspected connections with the Taliban.
The Bush administration continued to investigate Pakistani nuclear weapons proliferation, ratcheting up the pressure on the Pakistani government in 2001 and 2002 and focusing on Khan's personal role. It was alleged in December 2002 that U.S. intelligence officials had found evidence that an unidentified agent, supposedly acting on Khan's behalf, had offered nuclear weapons expertise to Iraq in the mid-1990s, though Khan strongly denied this allegation and the Pakistani government declared the evidence to be "fraudulent". The United States responded by imposing sanctions on KRL, citing concerns about ballistic missile technology transfers.
[edit] 2003 revelations from Iran and Libya
In 2003, Libya gave up nuclear weapons-related material including these centrifuges that were acquired from Pakistan's AQ Khan nuclear "black market".[21]
In August 2003, reports emerged of dealings with Iran; it was claimed that Khan had offered to sell nuclear weapons technology to that country as early as 1989. The Iranian government came under intense pressure from the United States and the European Union to make a full disclosure of its nuclear programme and, finally, agreed in October 2003 to accept tougher investigations from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA reported that Iran had established a large uranium enrichment facility using gas centrifuges based on the "stolen" URENCO designs, which had been obtained "from a foreign intermediary in 1987." The intermediary was not named but many diplomats and analysts pointed to Pakistan and, specifically, to Dr. Khan, who was said to have visited Iran in 1986. The Iranians turned over the names of their suppliers and the international inspectors quickly identified the Iranian gas centrifuges as Pak-1's, the model of intense [HEU] that was indegeniously developed by Dr. Khan in the early 1980s. In December 2003, two senior staff members at Khan Labs or KL were arrested on suspicion of having sold nuclear weapons technology to the Iranians.
Also in December 2003, Libya made a surprise announcement that it had weapons of mass destruction programmes which it would now abandon. Libyan government officials were quoted as saying that Libya had bought nuclear components from various black market dealers, including Pakistani nuclear scientists. U.S. officials who visited the Libyan uranium enrichment plants shortly afterwards reported that the gas centrifuges used there were very similar to the Iranian ones. The IAEA officials also visited to the Libyan nuclear plant where they found the models of Paksat-1. The Interpol police also arrested three Swiss nuclear scientists, who were known to be Khan's close associate and friends.
[edit] Dismissal, confession, and pardon
[edit] Investigation and confession
The Pakistani government's blanket denials became untenable as evidence mounted of illicit nuclear weapons technology transfers. It opened an investigation into Khan's activities, arguing that even if there had been wrongdoing, it had occurred without the Government of Pakistan's knowledge or approval. But critics noted that virtually all of Khan's overseas travels, to Iran, Libya, North Korea, Niger, Mali, and the Middle East, were on official Pakistan government aircraft which he commandeered at will, given the status he enjoyed in Pakistan. Often, he was accompanied by senior members of the Pakistan nuclear establishment.
Although he was not arrested, Khan was summoned for "debriefing". On January 25, 2004, Pakistani investigators reported that Khan and Mohammed Farooq, a high-ranking manager at KRL, had provided unauthorised technical assistance to Iran's nuclear weapons program in the late 1980s and early 1990s, allegedly in exchange for tens of millions of dollars. General Mirza Aslam Beg, a former Chief of Army Staff at the time, was also said to have been implicated; the Wall Street Journal quoted U.S. government officials as saying that Khan had told the investigators that the nuclear weapons technology transfers to Iran had been authorised by General Mirza Aslam Beg.[22]. On January 31, Khan was dismissed from his post as the Science Adviser to the President of Pakistan, ostensibly to "allow a fair investigation" of the nuclear weapons technology proliferation allegations.
In early February 2004, the Government of Pakistan reported that Khan had signed a confession indicating that he had provided Iran, Libya, and North Korea with designs and technology to aid in nuclear weapons programs, and said that the government had not been complicit in the proliferation activities. The Pakistani official who made the announcement said that Khan had admitted to transferring technology and information to Iran between 1989 and 1991, to North Korea and Libya between 1991 and 1997 (U.S. officials at the time maintained that transfers had continued with Libya until 2003), and additional technology to North Korea up until 2000.[23] On February 4, 2004, Khan appeared on national television and confessed to running a proliferation ring; he was pardoned the next day by Musharraf, the Pakistani president, but held under house arrest.[24]
[edit] Information coming from the investigation
The full scope of the Khan network is not fully known. Centrifuge components were apparently manufactured in Malaysia with the aid of South Asian and German middlemen, and used a Dubai computer company as a false front. According to Western sources, Khan had three motivations for his proliferation: 1. a defiance of Western nations and an eagerness to pierce the "clouds of so-called secrecy," 2. an eagerness to give nuclear technology to Muslim nations, and 3. money, acquiring wealth and real estate in his dealings. Much of the technology he sold was second-hand from Pakistan's own nuclear program and involved many of the same logistical connections which he had used to develop the Pakistani bomb.[3] In Malaysia, Khan was helped by Sri Lanka-born Buhary Sayed Abu Tahir, who shuttled between Kuala Lumpur and Dubai to arrange for the manufacture of centrifuge components.[24] The Khan investigation also revealed how many European companies were defying export restrictions and aiding the Khan network as well as the production of the Pakistani bomb. Dutch companies exported thousands of centrifuges to Pakistan as early as 1976, and a German company exported facilities for the production of tritium to the country.[25]
The investigation exposed Israeli businessman Asher Karni as having sold nuclear devices to Khan's associates. Karni is currently awaiting trial in a U.S. prison. Tahir was arrested in Malaysia in May 2004 under a Malaysian law allowing for the detention of individuals posing a security threat.[24]
[edit] Pardon and U.S. reaction
On February 5, 2004, the day after Khan's televised confession, he was pardoned by Pakistani President Musharraf. However, Khan remained under house arrest.
The United States government imposed no sanctions on the Pakistani government following the confession and pardon. U.S. government officials said that in the War on Terrorism, it was not their goal to denounce or imprison people but "to get results." Sanctions on Pakistan or demands for an independent investigation of the Pakistani military might have led to restrictions on or the loss of use of Pakistan military bases needed by US and NATO troops in Afghanistan. "It's just another case where you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar," a U.S. government official explained.[citation needed] The U.S. also refrained from applying further direct pressure on Pakistan to disclose more about Khan's activities due to a strategic calculation that such pressure might topple President Musharraf.
In a speech to the National Defense University on February 11, 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed to reform the International Atomic Energy Agency: "No state, under investigation for proliferation violations, should be allowed to serve on the IAEA Board of Governors—or on the new special committee. And any state currently on the Board that comes under investigation should be suspended from the Board. The integrity and mission of the IAEA depends on this simple principle: Those actively breaking the rules should not be entrusted with enforcing the rules."[26] The Bush proposal was seen as targeted against Pakistan which, currently, serves a regular term on the IAEA's Board of Governors. It has not received attention from other governments.
In western media, Khan became a major symbol of the threat of proliferation. In February 2005, he was featured on the cover of U.S.-based Time magazine as the "Merchant of Menace", labeled "the world's most dangerous nuclear trafficker," and in November 2005, the Atlantic Monthly ran a cover on Khan ("The Wrath of Khan") that featured a picture of a mushroom cloud behind Khan's head.
[edit] Subsequent developments
[edit] Questioning
In September 2005, Musharraf revealed that after two years of questioning Khan — which the Pakistani government insisted to do itself without outside intervention — that they had confirmed that Khan had supplied centrifuge parts to North Korea. Still undetermined was whether or not Khan passed a bomb design to North Korea or Iran that had been discovered in Libya.[27]
[edit] Renewed calls for IAEA access
Since 2005, and particularly in 2006, there have been renewed calls by IAEA officials, senior U.S. congressmen, EC politicians, and others to make Khan available for interrogation by IAEA investigators, given lingering skepticism about the "fullness" of the disclosures made by Pakistan regarding Khan's activities. In the U.S., these calls have been made by elected U.S. lawmakers rather than by the U.S. Department of State, though some interpret them as signalling growing discontent within the U.S. establishment with the current Pakistani regime headed by Musharraf.
In May 2006, the U.S House of Representatives Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation held a hearing titled, "The A.Q. Khan Network: Case Closed?" Recommendations offered by legislators and experts at this hearing included demanding that Pakistan turn over Khan to the U.S. for questioning as well as that Pakistan make further efforts to curb future nuclear proliferation. In June 2006, the Pakistani Senate, subcommittee hearing, issued a unanimous resolution criticizing the committee, stating that it will not turn over Khan to U.S. authorities and defending its sovereignty and nuclear program.
[edit] Lack of further action
Neither Khan nor any of his alleged Pakistani collaborators have yet to face any charges in Pakistan, where he remains an extremely popular figure. Khan is still seen as an outspoken nationalist for his belief that the West is inherently hostile to Islam. In Pakistan's strongly anti-U.S. climate, tough action against him posed political risks for Musharraf, who faced accusations of being too pro-U.S. from key leaders in Pakistan's Army. An additional complicating factor is that few believe that Khan acted alone and the affair risks gravely damaging the Army, which oversaw and controlled the nuclear weapons development programme and of which Musharraf was commander-in-chief, until his resignation from military service on November 28, 2007.[28] In December 2006, the Swedish Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (SWMDC) headed by Hans Blix, a former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC); said in a report that Khan could not have acted alone "without the awareness of the Pakistani Government".[29]
It has also been speculated that Khan's two daughters, who live in the UK and are UK subjects (thanks to their part-British, part-South African mother Henny), are in possession of extensive documentation linking the government of Pakistan to Khan's activities; such documentation is presumably intended to ensure that no further action is taken against Khan.[30] Conversely, both high-profile government members, such as Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq, as well as political opposition parties have expressed their support for Khan, allegations of nuclear trafficking notwithstanding.
[edit] Cancer
On August 22, 2006, the Pakistani government announced that Khan had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was undergoing treatment. On September 9, 2006, Khan was operated at Aga Khan hospital, in Karachi. According to doctors, the operation was successful, but on October 30 it was reported that his condition had deteriorated and he was suffering from deep vein thrombosis.[31]
[edit] Release from house arrest
In February 2009, two senior government officials told the Associated Press that restrictions on Khan has been removed and he is considered as a free citizen, and that Khan could meet friends and relatives either at his home or elsewhere in Pakistan. The officials said that a security detail continued to control his movements.[32]
[edit] Hospitalization
On March 5, 2008, Khan was admitted to an Islamabad hospital [33] with low blood pressure and fever [34], reportedly due to an infection. He was released four days later after "he gained significant improvement".
[edit] Pakistan army accused of proliferation
On July 4, 2008 he in an interview blamed President Musharraf and Pakistan Army for the transfer of nuclear technology, he claimed that Musharraf was aware of all the deals and he was the "Big Boss" for those deals[7].
Khan said that Pakistan gave centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army. The uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. He also said that he had travelled to North Korea in 1999 with a Pakistani Army general to buy shoulder-launched missiles from the government there. Asked why he had taken sole responsibility for the nuclear proliferation, Khan said friends, including a central figure in the ruling party at the time, had persuaded him that it was in the national interest. In return he had been promised complete freedom.[8]
In an article published on September 20, 2009 in the Sunday Times, the journalist Simon Henderson reveals of a letter written to him by Dr.Khan dated December 10, 2003, in which he alleges that he was acting precisely under the orders of the Pakistani government when he sold the designs of nuclear weapons to North Korea, Iran and Libya. He also alleges that Pakistan built a centrifuge plant for China in Hanzhong province.
[edit] Writing Columns
On November 12, 2008, he started writing weekly columns in The News International [35] and Daily Jang [36][36]. His columns heavily emphasis on the education and engineering disciplines. He advocated for the importance of engineering disciplines and importance of education. Khan who was accused of selling sensitive nuclear technology to other countries of the world, has gained a significant respect through his columns among in Pakistanis. Khan expressed his views on the of environmental issues. Dr. Khan is an avid supporter of Science and Technology education in Pakistan. Even though his columns heavily focused on the issues of education, Khan severely criticized Pervez Musharraf and his policies, in which he said because of his cruel domestic policies within Pakistan. The Taliban insurgency grew momentarily as well as instability in the country.
[edit] Contribution to Metallurgical Education in Pakistan
Dr. A.Q Khan played an important role in the establishment of engineering universities in Pakistan. As both PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan and Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad established a nuclear physics and a nuclear engineering university, Pakistan Institute of Applied Sciences and Engineering. Abdul Qadeer Khan established a metallurgy and material science institute in Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, which is known as Dr. A. Q. Khan Department of Metallurgical Engineering and material sciences. He also served as its both executive member and director there. Dr. Khan played an important and key role in establishing a research institute Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering at Karachi University. Khan introduces metallurgical engineering courses in many newly-founded universities and sciences colleges in Pakistan.
[edit] Legacy
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan is no longer associated with Pakistan's nuclear program. However, he is still widely seen as "Father of Pakistan's nuclear Program" even though he was only head of the centrifuge-based enrichment project at Kahuta and not the entire nuclear program, which was developed and run by PAEC Chairman, Munir Ahmad Khan. Dr. Khan's involvement in nuclear proliferation has shocked the entire nation and he was criticized by his peers and fellow scientists such as Dr. Pervaiz Hoodbhoy. However, Khan's debriefing heavily effected ex-President Pervez Musharraf's popularity. It also increased Anti-American feelings among some Pakistanis. Many people in Pakistan blamed the United States for Khan's house-arrest. Many journalists and the mainstream media supported Khan and expressed their sympathies to him. Opposition parties in Pakistan as well as the government coalition parties rose their voices for Khan. This created a tough position for President Musharraf as well as United States. High-profile government members such as ex-religious affairs minister Mr. Muhammad Ijaz-ul-Haq held a public press conference on May 2007 and expressed his support for Khan, allegations of nuclear trafficking notwithstanding. A local Pakistani journalist, Ahmed Quraishi, wrote in his column:
"We did not invent nuclear proliferation. Certainly Abdul Qadeer Khan gets no marks for originality in this area. What Khan did is wrong, but he was only walking in the footsteps of the pioneers of nuclear proliferation before him such as Klaus Fuchs. Also the British, German, Swiss and French experts and companies that criss-crossed the globe in the 1970s and 80s trying to sell components for enrichment technology, complete with secret catalogues marketing their products and services".[37]
On August, 14,1989, Khan, along with PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan, was awarded the high civilian award of "Hilal-e-Imtiaz" by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. In August 14, 1996, he was awarded the highest civilian award "Nishan-e-Imtiaz" by former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif. In March 12, 1999, he was twice awarded the highest civilian award "Nishan-e-Imtiaz" from President of Pakistan Muhammad Rafiq Tarar. Khan is the only Pakistani citizen who has been twice awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz. Many Pakistani nuclear analysts and nuclear experts have concluded that Khan is a clear example of a Russian scientist of the "Sputnik Space Program", and who took the entire credit of the nuclear program and neglected his fellow scientists and fellow engineers who have worked hard equally just like him.
Khan has been awarded various honorary doctorates from many universities in Pakistan. In 1989, Khan was awarded the honorary degree of Doctorate of Science by the University of Karachi. In 1993, an honorary degree of Doctorate of Science by the Baqai Medical University, Karachi. In 1998, a D.Sc from the Hamdard University in Karachi. In 1999 he was awarded a D.Sc from Gomal University. In 2000, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctorate of Science by the University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore.Lahore.
Despite his international image, Khan remains widely popular among in Pakistanis and he is considered domestically to be one of the most-influential and respected scientists in Pakistan. In an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, a known political analyst, Dr. Salim Farookhi described Khan as, " the most influential and talented scientist that Pakistan has produced."[38]
[edit] Institutes named after Khan
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE), University of Karachi
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Computer Sciences, Multan
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Kahuta
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Technology (KIT), Mianwali
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Ophthalmic Research Center, Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Girls College for Computer Science, Rawalpindi
• Dr. A. Q. Khan College for Science & Technology, Rawalpindi
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Academy of Science, Gulberg, Faisalabad
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Hall & Gymnasium, Pearl Valley Public School, Rawalakot, Azad Jammu & Kashmir
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Block, Al-Markaz Al-Islami, Islamabad
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Center for Software Engineering, Islamabad
• Dr. A .Q. Khan Institute of Computer Sciences & Information Technology, Kahuta
• Dr. A .Q. Khan Institute for Developing Engineering Technologies, Lahore
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Technology & Management, Islamabad
• Dr. A. Q. Khan Block, D.J. Sindh Government Science College, Karachi
• Dr A.Q Khan Laboratory, Physics Department, Cadet College Kohat
• Zuleikha - Quadeer Science Block, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi
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