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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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Posted on 01/22/2003 5:07:09 PM PST by Aaron_A
At least five of nine Pakistani nuclear scientists who have secretly left their country to seek more money and better working conditions were trained in Canada, The Asian Pacific Post has learned.
Another top scientist, Dr. A.Q. Khan, the man who made Pakistans nuclear bomb and who has been linked to assisting Iran, Iraq and North Korea weapons programs, was also hosted by the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, (AECL).
The defections of the scientists and Dr Khans alleged links to the so-called Axis of Evil is adding to fears of the world community about the safety of Pakistans nuclear weapons falling into wrong hands. It also adds to the growing controversy surrounding Canadas involvement in Pakistans nuclear program, which many say ultimately helped North Korea develop nuclear weapons.
Pakistan is believed to have transferred nuclear technology to North Korea in return for North Korean missiles.
The details about these defections were revealed in a memo prepared by engineers of CHASNUPP nuclear power plant, built with Chinese assistance in central Pakistan.
The Chinese-assisted CHASNUPP reactor was built after Canada withdrew its assistance to Pakistan after the South Asian nation tested a nuclear weapon.
In December 1987, a Canadian of Pakistan origin was convicted of attempting to export extra-hard steel that could be used in making centrifuges for enriching uranium.
Despite evidence to show Pakistan was making nuclear weapons and suspicions of its connections with North Korea, Canadas AECL continued cooperating on several fronts with the South Asian nation.
Pakistani scientists like Dr. Khan, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Chaudhry Abdul Majeed got uranium enrichment expertise courtesy of AECL which had helped build a Candu reactor near Karachi.
Some 50 other leading Pakistani nuclear engineers, including the five of nine who have absconded were also trained in Ontario and New Brunswick.
The nine scientists who are said to have left Pakistan are listed in an internal CHASNUPP memo as Muhammad Zubair, Asst. Engineer, (CNS Fellow, Electrical Division, April 1997), Murad Qasin, Senior Engineer (KINPOE fellow, Mechanical Division, Maintenance, Feb 2000), Tariq Mahmood Senior Engineer, (CNS Fellow, Operation Division, May 2000), Saeed Akhther Senior Engineer, (CNS Fellow, Training Division, June 2000), Imtaz Baig, (Senior Engineer KINPOE Fellow, Operation Division July 2000), (Weheed Nasir, Senior Engineer, KINPOE Fellow, Mechanical Division Aug 2000), Munawar Ismail Senior Engineer (CNS fellow Technical Division Oct. 2000), Shaheen Fareed (Senior Engineer CNS fellow Operation Division Feb. 2002) and Khalid Mahmood (Senior Engineer, Operation Division, July 2002).
The memo warned Pakistani authorities that many more of its 250 nuclear scientists and engineers were planning to run from the country because they were not getting a fair deal in Pakistan.
It speculated that these engineers went to the USA, Canada or Australia but in fact they could have gone to any country as they had left without permission or informing the authorities.
It said most of the nuclear engineers and scientists working at CHASNUPP are unhappy with their salaries and other benefits and are thus looking for openings to leave the country quietly.
The working conditions of these nuclear scientists should be a cause for grave concern to everyone as unhappy engineers at nuclear facilities could mean troubles of all kinds, a weekly Indian newspaper quoted a retired Pakistani nuclear scientist as saying.
The weekly said the situation was ripe for any country needing their services to offer them a reasonable package and most would quietly disappear, travelling on passports which would not reveal their qualifications or experience.
Meanwhile, the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington D.C. has described recent reports seeking to malign prominent Pakistani scientist Dr. A.Q. Khan as absolutely false, baseless and motivated.
An embassy spokesman said such reports were part of a malicious campaign against Pakistans consistent and established record of safeguarding its sensitive nuclear technology and ensuring without doubt that this technology has not been given by any organization or individual, to any other country.
Khan, who is well connected to the AECL and who has visited Canadian nuclear sites is in the eye of a growing storm that blames him for assisting Iran, Iraq and North Korea, the states described as the axis of evil by President George W. Bush.
The Los Angeles Times reported that U.S. officials believe Khan has been secretly cooperating with Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
The L.A. Times report said U.S. intelligence has long known of Khans activities but North Koreas declaration last month that it was reviving its nuclear weapons program drew international attention to the Pakistani scientist.
The 66-year-old metallurgist is a national hero in Pakistan where children and places are named after him.
But U.S. officials have a different view. If the international community had a proliferation most-wanted list, A. Q. Khan would be most wanted on the list, says Robert Einhorn, who was assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation in the Clinton administration.
Other news outlets reported that the A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories, the organization Khan used to head, offering vacuum technology for sale.
Experts say the technology can also be used in nuclear plants and thus the offer can be interpreted as promoting nuclear technology.
A pamphlet has a Rawalpindi, Pakistani, address, P.O. Box 502, and has pictures of the equipment it promotes. It also has a picture of Dr Khan on the extreme right corner wearing the medals awarded by the government of Pakistan.
A message distributed with the pamphlet says: Besides manufacturing of vacuum components and systems, our vacuum consultancy services are also available for system design, operational troubleshooting, quality assurance, maintenance, system development and human resource training.
Anti-nuclear proliferation experts are particularly concerned about the offer of human resource training because they claimed it was offering to train people for making a key component of a nuclear plant.
David Albright of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security says that Khan learned centrifugal technology he used for building Pakistans nuclear reactor while working at a plant in Holland in the 1970s.
The United States, however, refused to talk specifically about Dr. Khan.
A State Department official that Secretary of State Colin Powell talked about this issue in Mexico City back in November, when the U.S. media first reported that Pakistan had assisted North Koreas nuclear program.
Secretary Powell said at that time that he had had very specific conversations with Pakistans President Pervez Musharraf in recent months in which President Musharraf assured us that Pakistan was not participating in any activity of that nature, the official said.
Last year, President Pervez Musharraf abruptly removed Khan as head of Pakistans nuclear program, causing speculations that it was done under U.S. pressure because Washington was getting uncomfortable with Khans activities.
Khan also has shrugged off the charges. I built a weapon of peace, which seems hard to understand until you realize Pakistans nuclear capability is a deterrent to aggressors. There has not been a war in the last 30 years, and I dont expect one in the future. The stakes are too high, he said.
Despite these denials, recent media reports blamed Khan also for helping Iran and Iraq. In 1986, Pakistan and Iran signed a nuclear cooperation agreement after Khan visited Bushehr, a nuclear power plant that Teheran is building with Russian help.
The reports say that Khans name also appeared in a letter offering to manufacture a nuclear weapon for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Canadian government officials have so far been mute about the implications of the countrys nuclear assistance to Pakistan and the connections to North Korea.
When you connect the dots it is a frightening scenario especially with North Korea reviving its nuclear weapons program, said one Canadian MP.
The Asian Pacific Post reported last month that a French-Canadian nuclear engineer who was working on Canadian Candu reactors in South Korea was befriended by North Korean agents seeking western technological and scientific secrets.
The meetings at the Nashville Restaurant and Bar in the Itewon district of Seoul was observed and reported by a contract intelligence operative working for the U.S. government.
A second unidentified Canadian, who was working on the Candu reactors in South Korea also met with the North Korean spies.
The startling revelations that Canadian nuclear secrets may have been compromised came in the wake of North Koreas stunning admission that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
The French-Canadian engineer is believed to be an employee of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) which has built and operated four Candu reactors at Wolsong, South Korea since 1983.
AECL, a 40-year-old Crown corporation that employs 3,500 in Canada and around the world, calls itself the third-largest global supplier of nuclear energy systems.
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/827642/posts
At least five of nine Pakistani nuclear scientists who have secretly left their country to seek more money and better working conditions were trained in Canada, The Asian Pacific Post has learned.
Another top scientist, Dr. A.Q. Khan, the man who made Pakistans nuclear bomb and who has been linked to assisting Iran, Iraq and North Korea weapons programs, was also hosted by the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, (AECL).
The defections of the scientists and Dr Khans alleged links to the so-called Axis of Evil is adding to fears of the world community about the safety of Pakistans nuclear weapons falling into wrong hands. It also adds to the growing controversy surrounding Canadas involvement in Pakistans nuclear program, which many say ultimately helped North Korea develop nuclear weapons.
Pakistan is believed to have transferred nuclear technology to North Korea in return for North Korean missiles. The details about these defections were revealed in a memo.......
The defections of the scientists and Dr Khans alleged links to the so-called Axis of Evil is adding to fears of the world community about the safety of Pakistans nuclear weapons falling into wrong hands. It also adds to the growing controversy surrounding Canadas involvement in Pakistans nuclear program, which many say ultimately helped North Korea develop nuclear weapons. <<<
That would be my worry, that they will supply the rest of the world’s terrorists.
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