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Khan: Didn’t Musharraf know it?

ISLAMABAD: Abdul Qadeer Khan, the nuclear scientist placed under house arrest by Pakistan’s previous regime after he confessed to proliferation, and who has recently taken his battle for freedom to the courts, is steadily ratcheting up his accusations against President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistan Army as he builds a case for his own innocence.

Dr. Khan, who said some weeks ago that he was coerced into his infamous 2004 public confession of selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, has now stirred the pot further with the accusation that the Army under General Musharraf was in the know of a shipment of centrifuges to North Korea in 2000.

Over the last two days, he has told Kyodo and Associated Press, two international news agencies, that the Army had “complete knowledge” of the shipment of P-1 centrifuges, or uranium enrichment equipment, to North Korea, and that it must have taken place with the consent of General retired Musharraf, who was then the Army Chief.

His status as a national icon and the “father” of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb intact, Dr. Khan has found a sympathetic audience among Pakistanis. Most people are willing to believe that the man who made Pakistan a “nuclear superpower” was wronged by General Musharraf.

Even before Dr. Khan’s accusations, Pakistanis found it hard to digest that one man, however powerful, could by himself smuggle out a centrifuge without the knowledge of the country’s intelligence agencies and the military.

Dr. Khan told Associated Press that “no flight, no equipment could go outside without the clearance” from the ISI or the Strategic Planning Division, which heads the country’s nuclear weapons programme.

On Saturday, the nuclear establishment, finding itself in a tight corner over the accusations, felt compelled enough to hit back at Dr. Khan.

Chief of the SPD, Lt. Gen (retd.) Khalid Kidwai, held a rare news conference to deny Dr. Khan’s charges. He said that while the SPD was unwilling to enter into a slanging match with Dr. Khan, it had evidence to prove that he smuggled 13 centrifuges out of Pakistan, and that it was willing to share this evidence in a court if summoned, and even with Parliament. He also denied that Dr. Khan was forced to make the confession.

Dr. Khan was not allowed any contact with the outside world until the new government took over. Over the last three months, some of the restrictions on him have been lifted, and he has been allowed to interact over the telephone with the media.

Since May 28, the tenth anniversary of Pakistan’s nuclear tests, the disgraced nuclear scientist has given several interviews, insisting he was innocent and made a scapegoat by the previous regime.

He said he had been persuaded by his friends in the previous government to make the confession in order to protect national honour. In return, he was promised that he would be allowed to walk away a free man. Instead, he said, he found himself under house arrest.

Some days ago, a petitioner moved the Islamabad High Court to end Dr. Khan’s “illegal detention”. The government has argued that he is not being detained, but is living under protection.

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