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Global dismay at A.Q. Khan release

ISLAMABAD: As the world voiced dismay at the apparent release of Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan from effective house arrest, Islamabad had to reiterate on Saturday that it was committed to non-proliferation and had in place a system to ensure this.

A court declared Dr. Khan a “free citizen” on Friday, and disposed of his writ petition demanding an end to his house arrest on the basis of an “agreement” between him and the government of Pakistan.

Mystery surrounds the “deal” but it appears that Dr. Khan’s freedom may be conditional and that some restrictions on him will continue.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “very much concerned” about Dr. Khan’s release because the U.S. believed he was involved in leaking nuclear technology and secrets.

The State Department said Dr. Khan’s release from de facto house arrest would be “extremely regrettable” and “unfortunate”. A spokesman said the scientist remained a “serious proliferation risk”.

The British government also responded with concern.

“We have read about the release of Dr. A.Q. Khan and we continue to call on government of Pakistan to allow IAEA access to Dr. Khan in order to seek information about nuclear proliferation activities, in particular the smuggling of nuclear secrets to Iran and North Korea.”

France too expressed concern, and expressed the hope that Dr. Khan’s activities are “absolutely over” and that his release would not lead to a renewed non-proliferation “the pursuit of these activities which are illegal, dangerous and very worrying for international security”.

Faced with this flurry of concern, the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said in a statement the government wanted “to reiterate that it has dismantled the nuclear black market network”.

Avoiding a reference to Dr. Khan by name, a statement from the Ministry said no individual associated with his proliferation network had any official status or access to any strategic facility.

“Pakistan remains committed to the objective of non-proliferation. We have put in place necessary legislative, regulatory and administrative measures to ensure effective export controls and to prevent the possibility of proliferation from Pakistan,” it said.

It said “the matter” had been investigated and the findings shared with the International Atomic Energy Agency. It referred to Friday’s court ruling, saying “the government remains committed to the due process of law”.

Earlier Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters that Pakistan had “successfully broken the network that [Dr. Khan] had set up and today he has no say and has no access to any of the sensitive areas of Pakistan. A Q Khan is history.”

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