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Pakistan rallies around A.Q. Khan

Nirupama Subramanian

Renewed interest in America on nuclear proliferation network

ISLAMABAD: "Photography forbidden," says the sign outside the palatial house in a plush part of the city. The gates are closed and several guards, wearing salwar kameez, are walking up and down the well-tended lawn outside.

The house is one of many in Islamabad said to be owned by Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb who is wanted by the U.S. for his role in selling nuclear technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran.

The tightly guarded property is possibly where the Pakistan Government keeps Dr. Khan under house arrest.

Dr. Khan is one of Pakistan's most revered citizens, the recipient of its highest awards. But after revelations by the U.S. and a confession by Dr. Khan that he had transferred nuclear technology to Libya and Iran, the Pakistan government placed the scientist under house arrest in January 2004.

President Musharraf later pardoned him but he remains in "protective custody," effectively a prisoner in his house.

It appears many in Pakistan are now readying to rally around him, after renewed interest in the U.S. about the nuclear proliferation network that operated out of the Khan Research Laboratories. A group of Senators led by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal Senator Khurshid Ahmed has written to the Senate chairman to arrange a meeting with Dr. Khan so that they can enquire about his health and living conditions.

Testimony by expert

The demand follows a testimony by a nuclear expert before a U.S. congressional sub-committee that the case against Dr. Khan was "far from closed." He said there were unanswered questions about the possible supply of nuclear weapons designs to Iran by the Khan network.

Responding to the public hearing, Foreign Office spokesman Suhail Mahmood said the case "was closed on our part." He said: "If the U.S. has any new information, they should share with us. We are ready to co-operate."

He was reiterating a May 2 Foreign Office statement that the investigation into the nuclear sale network was "a closed chapter." The Government had shared all the information it had with the U.S. and with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and that this co-operation has been "appreciated."

Last Friday, the U.S. expert David Albright told the U.S. Congress that information supplied by the Pakistan government was "incomplete" and that it needed to provide "more assistance to investigators" including direct access to Dr. Khan. But Pakistan has made clear that it will not hand over to the U.S. the scientist who continues to evoke respect and awe among its people. Of the 12 persons arrested for being part of the nuclear proliferation racket, only Dr. Khan remains in custody. The rest have been released. In an editorial, the Daily Times said the Bush administration was aware that it was not politically possible for Pakistan to hand over its national hero to the U.S. for questioning.

It said raking up the "A.Q. Khan factor" was a "pressure tactic" aimed at extracting concessions on some other issue, "possibly Afghanistan."

A few weeks ago, the government barred Dr. Khan's daughter Ayesha from visiting him.

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