Daily Times

The murky scandal surrounding Pakistan’s nuclear programme where Dr A Q Khan was accused of passing on sensitive information to North Korea, Iran and Libya refuses to go away. From time to time, the western media or Dr A Q Khan himself, centre-stage in the whole scam, stir up the issue. The latest offering is The Washington Post (WP) report based on a letter A Q Khan claimed to have received from a North Korean official in 1998. The report concludes that North Korea paid huge bribes to Pakistan’s military officials to get access to sensitive nuclear technology. Not surprisingly, both officials cited in the report, former chief of army staff General (retd) Jahangir Karamat and Lieutenant General Zulfiqar Khan have denied the claims of having received bribes from North Korea. It cannot be said with certainty whether the assertions of the WP report are correct because the source of their information is not what we call unimpeachable. Dr A Q Khan is an interested party and was somehow convinced by General Musharraf in 2004, when the scandal broke, to come on television and apologise to the nation for proliferating Pakistan’s nuclear secrets to interested parties for money. Even at the time, it was hard to believe that Dr A Q Khan alone could just spirit away such know-how from a highly secure environment without an institutional go-ahead. Not surprisingly, after the departure of Musharraf, Dr A Q Khan retracted his statement and said he was made to fall on his own sword to save the country. The emergence of this letter might be part of his campaign to clear his name and reclaim the mantle of a hero. Whatever the truth of these allegations and denials, this report would reopen the debate on Pakistan’s reliability as a responsible nuclear power and could even renew calls for international sanctions.

After the departure of General Musharraf, restrictions were eased on Dr A Q Khan’s interaction and movement. However, he has been using this relaxation to further his agenda. Some time back, a court was moved to stop him from issuing public statements. It is time the government realised the implications of allowing the unscrupulous doctor to spew his resentments to the outside world to the detriment of Pakistan and put a stop to his blabbering. *