I suspected Khan for three years: Musharraf

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has acknowledged for the first time that he had suspected for at least three years that his country's top scientist was sharing nuclear technology with other countries, but argued the US had not given him convincing proof.

In an hour-long interview with the New York Times on Monday Musharraf shared blame for the delay with Washington saying it was not until October that American officials provided him with evidence of the activities of the scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan.

"If they knew it earlier, they should have told us," Musharraf was quoted as saying. "Maybe a lot of things would not have happened."

Musharraf told the paper that he had seen signs that Khan was sharing nuclear technology, including 'illegal contacts, maybe suspicions of contacts', and 'suspicious movement' connected to Khan's laboratory.

Musharraf, however, said he was concerned that investigating Khan, a national hero in Pakistan for his role in developing its nuclear weapons, could provoke a political backlash.

"It was extremely sensitive," he was quoted as saying. "One couldn't outright start investigating as if he's any common criminal."

He attributed his protectiveness to Khan's national stature to political realities in Pakistan. "Since he had acquired a larger-than-life figure for himself, one had to pardon him to satisfy the public and I think it has gone extremely positively."

The NYT quoted a senior Bush administration official as acknowledging that Musharraf was not given highly specific information about Khan's activities until last fall but he noted the US conveyed more general warnings about Khan's activities starting in 2001.

Bush is expected to give today what one senior official at the White House described as a 'lengthy, detailed speech on what must change in the area of stopping proliferation'.

Musharraf told the paper that he forced Khan to retire from his post as head of a nuclear weapons lab in March 2001, to prevent him from transferring any more nuclear secrets.

That is the first time Musharraf has cited Khan's nuclear activities as the reason for his departure, the paper said.

"We nipped the proliferation in the bud, we stopped the proliferation," he said of Khan's removal. "That is the important part."

But, the paper said, the nuclear black market supplied by Khan continued to operate for two and a half years, until last fall, according to American officials.

That network is one of the largest and most successful efforts at evading non-proliferation controls, and is suspected of being the source of nuclear weapons developed in Iran, North Korea and Libya, investigators said.

Before the exposure of Khan's network late last fall, the paper noted Pakistani officials, including Musharraf, had long denied that Pakistan was the source of nuclear technology for any other country.

In repeated interviews, Musharraf never disclosed that he suspected that the country's leading nuclear scientist was spreading technology.

Musharraf's comments, the paper said, will only add to the debate over what is a murky episode. Some political and military analysts said Pakistan's earlier refusal to act against Khan and its effort now to bring the scandal to a hasty conclusion reflect at least tacit approval from the powerful army for his activities.

They suggest that Khan received a full pardon in exchange for publicly stating that he alone was responsible for the proliferation, the paper said.

Musharraf said after he had 'centralised oversight' of the nuclear programme in February 2000, he received reports from a scientist who had been 'sidelined' by Khan that raised concerns about 'some proliferation activity, some underhand proliferation going on'.

He also confirmed earlier reports that Pakistani agents had raided a cargo plane used by Khan in 2000, but had found nothing.

"We got some suspicious reports through the security agencies that there are some suspicions of some items to be loaded and taken somewhere in the plane," he said.

"We were very sure there was some activity likely," said Musharraf, who added that the scientist may have been tipped off. "But we didn't catch them red-handed."

Musharraf, who had said he would shield Khan from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations watchdog group, softened his position slightly yesterday, saying, "We need to think about it."

The military ruler has indicated that he is not eager for trials of six close aides to Khan in part because lengthy public trials would raise 'the same sensitive issue of Dr A Q Khan coming in again, getting invoked every time'.

He told the paper that despite his suspicions, he had no idea how extensive Khan's network was, nor how long it had been operating.

"We didn't know that this is so deep that it started somewhere in the late 80s," he said. "We didn't know that at all. And frankly again, the sensitivity of the issue, we tapped it and we just sidelined this one individual."

Even removing Khan from his post in 2001, Musharraf told the paper, required hours of deliberation over how best to proceed. Khan was removed as head of the laboratory but was made a special adviser to the government, a post he was stripped of last week.

The paper said Musharraf seemed ambivalent about whether Khan was victim or villain, patriot or traitor. "I don't know whether Dr A Q was using the underworld or the underworld was using A Q," he said.

Musharraf, the paper said, emphatically denied reports by American intelligence officials that Khan had struck a barter agreement with North Korea in which Pakistani nuclear technology was exchanged for North Korean ballistic missile technology.

He said Pakistani cargo planes spotted in North Korea in July 2002 were picking up surface-to-air missiles Pakistan had purchased at the height of tension with India.

Though the military ruler has previously said the government completed its investigation of the proliferation, he said yesterday that the government was 'still looking into the details' about what, beyond designs, had been transferred to North Korea.

But the paper said Musharraf seemed to have few answers about how Khan operated freely in a country where the nuclear arsenal is considered its greatest single asset.

He was quoted as saying in the interview that the brigadier general in charge of security for Khan's laboratory never reported anything. "He didn't, and frankly, he hasn't even now," the president said. "He in fact has said that yes, he regrets that he was inefficient, he couldn't unearth, he didn't know."

"He says he didn't know whatever was going on. And he swears by that even now. But, however, he is being investigated for at least inefficiency. He didn't know anything, being the security in charge."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- URL for this article: http://www.rediff.com//news/2004/feb/10pak1.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Father of Pakistan’s Green Atomic bomb and his military aid in political hot water

By A.H. Jaffor Ullah

The architect of Pakistan’s Islamic Atom bomb, Dr. Abdul Qader Khan, and one of his top aids, General Mirza Aslam Beg, are now in proverbial political hot water. Contrast this news with that of the architect of India’s Saffron Atom bomb, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who is in limelight being selected in July 2002 by BJP as the president of the Republic of India. Both of them gave leadership to their respective nation’s nuclear bomb-making effort in the 1980s and 1990s, which had culminated in successful testing of the nukes in May and June of 1998. Both of these highly accomplished men were born in 1930s in India, Kalam in Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu and Khan in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, but their career path took a sharp turn. While Dr. Kalam became the ceremonial president of India, his counterpart in Pakistan, Dr. Qadeer Khan did not fare that well. Mr. Khan and his military aid, Gen. M. Aslam Beg are about to be prosecuted under Pakistan’s ‘Official Secrets Act’ when that nation’s investigators unearthed some very damaging evidences that point out the duo’s involvement in selling nuclear secrets to Iran during 1980s. The Wall Street Journal on January 26, 2004 published an article on Dr. Khan and Gen. Beg’s complicity to sell Pakistan’s one of the top secrets to a neighboring Islamic nation. A senior Pakistani official was quoted by the journal to be the source of this revelation.

The authorities in Pakistan who are investigating the alleged wrongdoings of Dr. A. Qader Khan now say that they have traced quite a few bank accounts in foreign countries that were used by the Pakistani nuclear scientists Dr. Qader Khan and a fellow scientist, Mohammed Farooq, the WSJ article writes. The authorities in Pakistan believe that the scientists had received payments after passing highly secret documents relating to nuclear technology to Iran and other nations. Under this backdrop, it remains to be seen whether Pakistani President, General Pervez Musharraf, would give the green light to formally charge the scientists by the end of January 2004. The political nature of the case would make the Pakistani President shy away from giving his approval to sue the nation’s top nuclear scientist. Besides, Dr. Qader Khan has strong ties to Islamists in Pakistan many of who dislike General Musharraf for supporting the Bush Administration in rounding up al-Qaeda jihadists allover Pakistan. Is it possible for the Musharraf Administration to issue an arrest warrant for Dr. Qader Khan, Mr. M. Farooq, and General Aslam Beg because they had broken country’s ‘Official Secret Act’? We have to wait and see. General Musharraf may not take a risk lest his move may alienate a large section of Pakistanis comprising of clergies, jihadists, and patriots who abhor India for myriad reasons. Dr. Qader Khan is considered a hero and he plays a role model in Pakistan. Therefore, it could be a risky venture to arrest and humiliate him.

General Pervez Musharraf has acted to "rein in Islamist extremists,’ as pointed out in the WSJ article in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in America. The Islamists may label the arrests of Dr. Khan and his associates as betrayal by the Pakistani president. Because of a large number of Pakistanis who ardently support Dr. Qader Khan, hundreds of Muslim hardliners had gathered in the capital city of Islamabad denouncing the government’s move to question the nuclear scientist and his aides. The WSJ article wrote, "The prosecution of such prominent figures may prove embarrassing to the military, long Pakistan’s most powerful institution and one that brought Gen. Musharraf to power. The army has overseen Pakistan’s nuclear program for decades."

It is true that Pakistani government had expressed in the 1970s to undertake a mission to make nuclear bombs. The late Pakistani President Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto had once proclaimed that Pakistan ought to make nuclear bomb even if it means eating grass. This famous utterance by Bhutto came in the wake of India’s experimental detonation of atomic device in May 1974 in Pokhran, Rajasthan, during Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s time. Pakistani military always wished to have their Islamic nuclear bomb in their possession. It became a prestige issue. Dr. Qader Khan – the Dr. Strangelove of Pakistan – was recruited to complete the job who knew how to enrich uranium by centrifugation. He learnt this job while he was in Germany in the 1960s. Because of his pivotal role in making Pakistan a member of the nuclear club, Mr. Qader Khan has received many accolades and encomium from his countrymen. He held the position of Pakistan’s main nuclear facility for 26 years. In 2002, he was appointed an adviser to the government of General Musharraf. Because of his stature, the authorities did not detain him. However, he was asked not to leave the capital.

The investigation of Dr. Qader Khan and his associates is not a homebrewed exercise. In November 2003, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made the accusation that Pakistani scientists in the 1980s had helped Iran develop centrifuges to enrich the purity of uranium without which one cannot make any nuclear bomb. Dr. Qader Khan has expertise in this crucial area of nuclear bomb making. In the past the IAEA also have accused Pakistan of providing such crucial information to other rogue nations such as North Korea and Libya.

According to the WSJ article the Bush Administration has been urging General Musharraf for the last two years to investigate how Pakistani nuclear scientists passed top-secret nuclear information to other nations. However, because of the urgency to apprehend al-Qaeda soldiers in Pakistan the Bush Administration did not press hard this issue to Gen. Musharraf’s regime. However, because of the events of last two months in which two assassination attempts have been made against Musharraf’s life, the General has finally changed his policy. He is now determined more than ever to go after the Islamists in Pakistan. His administration also wanted to know if there are any connections between the Pakistani nuclear scientists and the government of Iran and Libya. Whatever General Musharraf does with Dr. Qader Khan and his aid vis-à-vis selling of nuclear secrets to rogue nations, he does not like to come out as a stooge of Mr. Bush. An investigation to look into the matter of selling Pakistan’s nuclear secrets by Dr. Khan may be interpreted by his countrymen as a mini war against corruption by the government officials. In that way, the reputation of Dr. Khan will be tarnished. The corruption charge levied against Dr. Khan and his two associates if found to be valid, will confer General Musharraf the title of a warrior against rampant state-level corruption. This image may play out very well in Pakistan and strengthen Musharraf’s foothold into Pakistani politics.

In his defense, General Musharraf said on January 23, 2004, that his administration is not acting at the behest of the U.S. or any other nation. He played the "patriotism" card rather well when he mentioned that he vowed to prosecute anyone found guilty of selling state’s secret. According to the WSJ article, Musharraf said in Davos, Switzerland, "We will sort out everyone who is involved. [Our nuclear assets] are in extremely safe hands. We have ensured rings of security measures around that, especially since I took over in 1999."

What will happen to the retired Army General Aslam Beg, who was one of the associates of Dr. Khan, is an open question. For one thing, Gen. Beg is quite well known for his anti-American rhetoric. He served as Pakistan’s army chief from 1988 through 1991. The transaction of nuclear secrets and money transfer took place at the time. It was reported earlier that the army chief came to meet the Mr. Nawaz Sharif, who General Musharraf deposed in October 1999 coup, in January 1991 when Sharif was the PM for the first time to discuss a proposal to sell nuclear technology to Iran for billions of dollars. General Aslam Beg then proposed that the money received from Iran could underwrite Pakistan’s defense-budget for the next 10 years. The General now says that he did not do anything wrong.

The Pakistani ex-nuclear chief, Dr. Qader Khan, now told the investigators that he cooperated with Iran on nuclear technologies that were authorized by Pakistan’s top military commander. Dr. Qader Khan is known for his polemics. He is a staunch nationalist and holds strong views against West vis-à-vis theirs anti-Islamic views. The wild card in this game is Pakistan’s tens and thousands of Madrassah graduates and clerics. Will they rally for Dr. Qader Khan in the event he is arrested, put in a trial, and found guilty? Stay tuned for the next episode of this exciting development in Islamabad. You never can tell what is in store for General Pervez Musharraf. In the meantime Dr. Abdul Kalam, the President of India who was Dr. Khan’s counterpart in India must be watching all these new developments with an eager eye. By the stroke of a luck while he became the ceremonial President of India, his counterpart in Pakistan fell from grace by becoming an anti-West critic and staunch Islamist with his strident remarks. At this juncture, Dr. Qader Khan fits the following description, which was composed by Lord Byron: "He stood a stranger in this breathing world, an erring spirit from another hurled; a thing of dark imaginings."

A. H. Jaffor Ullah, a columnist and researcher, writes from New Orleans, USA

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