A Q Khan blames Musharraf for Pakistan's woes

[Interceptor]

A Q Khan blames Musharraf for Pakistan's woes
30 May, 2008, 1256 hrs IST, PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan has turned against embattled President Pervez Musharraf, who pardoned him for proliferation activities four years ago, blaming him for the various problems confronting the country that had "gone to the dogs".

Khan, confined to his home here for the past four years by Musharraf after he admitted to proliferating nuclear secrets, claimed he had never done anything illegal.

He said he would reveal further details of the proliferation scandal at an "appropriate time".

He said Pakistan has not been able to make much headway in economic development even after becoming "self-sufficient" in defence matters by testing nuclear devices in May 1998.

"This has not happened. (In) the last 10 years, the country has gone to the dogs," he told Dawn News channel in a telephonic interview. "People are hungry. You see the (rising) prices and all."

Asked if he blamed the President for the country's problems, Khan replied, "The team leader is responsible for the failure of the team. But all those who were with him did not assert themselves and they did not do a proper job."

However, Khan said the newly elected civilian government should be given more time to tackle the country's problems. Referring to the charges of nuclear proliferation, Khan said he felt betrayed by the people who made him "confess to being guilty of something that he had nothing to do with". He added: "I was not part of any illegal or unauthorised (matters)."

After Khan took responsibility for heading a proliferation network that passed nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea during a confession on state-run television in February 2004, Musharraf pardoned him and ordered his detention.

A Q Khan blames Musharraf for Pakistan's woes- Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

 

[Interceptor]

Please dont call AQ an Indian thank you, I heard the interview on tv.

 

[mujahideen]

People like AQ Khan dont come often. While they are amoungst us we must use them as much as we can, you never know if we will have some like him again. As far as his arrest is concerned. We all know he is just a small part, I mean their are people who are bigger then him, but look at his greatness, he took all the blame. The people know what he has done and the fact is he has done nothing which will make us or him hang our heads in shame.

 

[Always Neutral]

A Q Khan blames Musharraf for Pakistan's woes
30 May, 2008, 1256 hrs IST, PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan has turned against embattled President Pervez Musharraf, who pardoned him for proliferation activities four years ago, blaming him for the various problems confronting the country that had "gone to the dogs".

Khan, confined to his home here for the past four years by Musharraf after he admitted to proliferating nuclear secrets, claimed he had never done anything illegal.

He said he would reveal further details of the proliferation scandal at an "appropriate time".

He said Pakistan has not been able to make much headway in economic development even after becoming "self-sufficient" in defence matters by testing nuclear devices in May 1998.

"This has not happened. (In) the last 10 years, the country has gone to the dogs," he told Dawn News channel in a telephonic interview. "People are hungry. You see the (rising) prices and all."

Asked if he blamed the President for the country's problems, Khan replied, "The team leader is responsible for the failure of the team. But all those who were with him did not assert themselves and they did not do a proper job."

However, Khan said the newly elected civilian government should be given more time to tackle the country's problems. Referring to the charges of nuclear proliferation, Khan said he felt betrayed by the people who made him "confess to being guilty of something that he had nothing to do with". He added: "I was not part of any illegal or unauthorised (matters)."

After Khan took responsibility for heading a proliferation network that passed nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea during a confession on state-run television in February 2004, Musharraf pardoned him and ordered his detention.

A Q Khan blames Musharraf for Pakistan's woes- Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

I see how people avoid this thread. It will be like the pot calling the kettle black. By Batman's standard AQ is INDIAN in RAWS pay role.

Regards

 

[never]

aq khan is hero, loved by those who dont know him.
after living in islamabad and meeting countless people who know him well, i have heard a different story of an arrogant and self serving individual.
he is well qualified to be president of pml n.

 

[Always Neutral]

aq khan is hero, loved by those who dont know him.
after living in islamabad and meeting countless people who know him well, i have heard a different story of an arrogant and self serving individual.
he is well qualified to be president of pml n.

Well said never. I don't know why people are scared to criticise their heroes. AQ may have done well for the pakistan nuke but selling it to N korea or libya was sheer stupidity. That to for personal profit.

Regards

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

I find it hard to respect a man who has never shown the humility, as have numerous officials of the PAEC, to defer the huge amount of praise showered on him by stating that Pakistan's nuclear program is not the result of one man, could not have been the result of one man.

After the original revelations about him, the press, which now eulogizes him in its anti-Musharraf drive, also carried numerous stories of how he abused power.

A recent story in the News did indicate though that the investigations into him did not reveal any personal monetary gain as being the motive for transferring tech. to NK, Iran or Libya - but rather it was an attempt to deflect attention from Pakistan's program.

In the case of Iran and Libya, it was also a sense of solidarity with fellow Muslim nations AQ Khan thought would be attacked by the US if they did not possess the bomb. Still the wrong thing to do though.

 

[fatman17]

^^^blaming musharraf is the "in thing" these days - so another egotistic man joins the bandwagon.

 

[roadrunner]

I find it hard to respect a man who has never shown the humility, as have numerous officials of the PAEC, to defer the huge amount of praise showered on him by stating that Pakistan's nuclear program is not the result of one man, could not have been the result of one man.

Yes, he certainly does seem to like being the "father of the Pakistani bomb" title. He did very little except "steal" plans from Dutch URENCO, and then proliferate. Whether AQ Khan was there or not, Pakistan was going to develop the bomb. He didn't matter so much.

I should say, I don't consider what he did as stealing of the Dutch plans. He wasn't convicted, and nothing wrong with modifying what one has learnt through experience.

In the case of Iran and Libya, it was also a sense of solidarity with fellow Muslim nations AQ Khan thought would be attacked by the US if they did not possess the bomb. Still the wrong thing to do though.

I don't believe he did it for that. If he did, Iran would have the bomb. Perhaps he was deflecting there.

 

[alibaz]

Irrespestive of this that he is involved in profileration or not he remains the hero.

 

[roadrunner]

Irrespestive of this that he is involved in profileration or not he remains the hero.

So what exactly did he do to become a hero? Steal some plans? I think the Pak nuclear scientists that developed the bomb for themselves were greater heroes. All this hero worship to one man is quite wrong, especially when he didn't do much in the bigger scheme of the program.

 

[Flintlock]

^^^Well one could argue that his stolen plans and technology was perhaps the key to Pakistan's success in developing the bomb....

....which leaves us contemplating whether to call him a thief or a hero (or both).

 

[roadrunner]

^^^Well one could argue that his stolen plans and technology was perhaps the key to Pakistan's success in developing the bomb....

Argue it then. Where's your evidence for that?

“Within six years, KRL had produced the weapons-grade uranium, but the production of enriched uranium is only one of more than 20 steps in producing a bomb, and it was Dr. Khan’s rivals at the PAEC who eventually put all the pieces together."

"I used to visit his home quite regularly during the 1980s to take tea and discuss scientific problems and the bomb,” said Islamabad physicist A.H. Nayyer. “Even then, when the program was supposedly secret, he would boast about what he’d achieved and how close they were to an explosion. He always meticulously cultivated this image that he alone delivered the bomb. The facts are that his scientific achievements are actually quite minor.”
Pakistan - Nuclear Program - Khan - Worldpress.org

Pakistan could already enrich Plutonium even before this without AQ Khan's help.

 

[Flintlock]

Argue it then. Where's your evidence for that?

“Within six years, KRL had produced the weapons-grade uranium, but the production of enriched uranium is only one of more than 20 steps in producing a bomb, and it was Dr. Khan’s rivals at the PAEC who eventually put all the pieces together."

"I used to visit his home quite regularly during the 1980s to take tea and discuss scientific problems and the bomb,” said Islamabad physicist A.H. Nayyer. “Even then, when the program was supposedly secret, he would boast about what he’d achieved and how close they were to an explosion. He always meticulously cultivated this image that he alone delivered the bomb. The facts are that his scientific achievements are actually quite minor.”
Pakistan - Nuclear Program - Khan - Worldpress.org

Pakistan could already enrich Plutonium even before this without AQ Khan's help.

Interesting article. Very, very interesting.

I shall reserve my opinions on the issue...

 

[roadrunner]

"The same ignorant nuclear writers who have been writing extensively on the nuclear programme have also failed to comprehend the fact that Pakistan with its research and power reactor at PINSTECH became capable of developing nuclear weapons in two different ways without the help of AQ Khan. Before 1974, if Pakistan wanted, uranium used for reactor fuel could be set aside for further enrichment to weapon grade using variety of methods that had been completely and practically understood and mastered at PINSTECH as early as 1974. They are unable to realize that PAEC was capable to produce unstable plutonium (PU-239) from nuclear reactor and don't want to acknowledge that PAEC had crossed the threshold in several underlying technologies in early seventies, when Munir Ahmed Khan was PAEC chairman."
Owl's Tree: Pakistani Nuclear Program 3-5

Probably a better article.