Freed nuclear bomb scientist's 'no threat'

[David Guyatt]

This is today's news:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090209/twl-...f21e0.html

reed nuclear bomb scientist's 'no threat'
Monday, February 9 11:33 am

Western powers have criticised a court ruling in Pakistan to free a disgraced nuclear scientist who sold secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya. Skip related content

The ruling by Pakistan's high court ended five years of house arrest for Abdul Qadeer Khan, who is at the centre of the world's most serious nuclear proliferation scandal.

Western powers have raised concerns about the risk of more proliferation.

But Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in Europe on the weekend the government had broken up Khan's network and he no longer had any say on, or access to, any area of Pakistan's nuclear programme.

Mr Qureshi also said the government reserved the right to appeal against last Friday's court ruling.

"That option is there," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit, referring to Mr Qureshi's comments on a possible appeal.

"But I would hasten to add that as far as we are concerned, as we have said time and again, this chapter is closed."

Khan, praised by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb, was pardoned but placed under house arrest in 2004 by then president Pervez Musharraf.

Soon after Khan made a televised confession to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

Pakistani authorities denied any connection to Khan's proliferation network but never let foreign investigators question him, saying it had interrogated him and passed on all relevant information.

Nevertheless, international experts investigating proliferation still want to question him.

***

The following is the reason:

http://www.chowk.com/articles/11146

Why did CIA protect Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan
Mansoor Ahmed September 6, 2006

In an interview to a Dutch radio, VPRO Argos Radio on August 9, 2005, Dr Lubbers, the former Dutch Prime Minister revealed that the Pakistani metallurgist Dr A.Q. Khan was arrested in 1975 for espionage and in 1988 for illegal entry into Holland. On both occasions he was allowed to go scot-free because of the CIA’s intervention.

In 1992, according to Dr Lubbers, Dr A.Q.Khan wanted to visit Holland to see his ailing father-in-law (his wife is a Dutch). While he was for refusing visa to Dr A.Q.Khan, the case for visa was sponsored by no less a person than the head of the Dutch secret service, BVD, Arthur Dokters Van Leeuwen. A BVD person received Dr A.Q.Khan on his arrival at Schipol airport. The BVD was presumably acting under instructions from American intelligence agencies.

Dr Lubbers said: "If you were to study the archives, you would find that the American intelligence agencies -- I am absolutely certain of it -- kept a record of how closely they watched the man and what he was upto, etc. They thought as such they were doing a terrific job."

When it was pointed out by the presenter of the programme that still Dr A Q Khan continued, Dr Lubbers replied, “Yes, but that is the shortcoming of the management. And yes, that’s when we saw it was the leader of the free world. And we do take quite seriously the fact that they did a lot of good things. But they were not able to subdue the monster of proliferation, to put it that way.”

Complimenting the Dutch secret service, on doing a good job, Dr Lubbers concluded, “The BVD reported it to its counterpart in Washington. The counterpart in Washington then follows a course that amounts to let him go and we will gain more information. And that is where things start to go wrong.”

He added as a final thought: “It also indicates the peculiar situation that important problems are handled by the intelligence agencies. There is something unhealthy about it.”

Contrary to what Mr Bush, Mr Blair and Mr Tenet said, A.Q.Khan was not only under close watch of the CIA during the period he was proliferating to Iran but was also helped by the CIA and the Dutch secret service to get entry visa to Holland in 1992. That would indicate that there has been considerable economising of truth with regard to the CIA’s relationship with A.Q.Khan by both US and British leaderships going back to 1975.

It seems that the CIA wanted to keep track of A.Q.Khan’s activities so that they could get more information on Pakistan’s nuclear program.

[David Guyatt]

http://www.pro-pakistan.com/2008/07/04/a...o-pakistan

While the Western media often dubbed Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan as a “Disgraced” scientist we Pakistani’s considered him our national hero .However the recent statement given by Abdul Qadeer Khan to Geo Channel has a strong potetial to damage Pakistan’s image globally. I do understand his enmity with Musharraf but i fail to understand why he has taken it to a level which can harm our country ,Pakistan. His recent accusations that Pakistan Army and its intelligence agencies were involved in the proliferation of nuclear material to North Korea in exchange for 200 SA 15 missiles is the worst I expected from him. Moreover, anti Musharraf Geo Tv telecasted this interview without having any regard for national interest. It won’t surprise me if I am told that Geo was paid by CIA for conducting this interview and making this information public which will disgrace Pakistan and its military forces. I think it is time that we give a serious thought to the activities of our media and make it accountable for telecasting anti state information.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The disgraced architect of Pakistan’s nuclear program said Friday that it provided centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army under President Pervez Musharraf.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, who remains a national hero despite confessing four years ago to heading a clandestine proliferation network, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane that was loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. His claims contradict his 2004 confession that he was solely responsible for spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya — and Pakistan’s repeated denials its army or government knew about Khan’s nuclear proliferation activities. Khan said the army had “complete knowledge” of the shipment of used P-1 centrifuges to North Korea and that it must have been sent with the consent of Musharraf, the then-army chief who took power in a 1999 coup.
“It was a North Korean plane, and the army had complete knowledge about it and the equipment,” Khan said. “It must have gone with his (Musharraf’s) consent.” Khan’s allegations, reported earlier Friday by the Japanese news agency, Kyodo, are his most controversial yet and could prove deeply embarrassing for both the army and Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror.