Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist and the man responsible for building Pakistan’s nuclear capability, was finally freed from house arrest by the Islamabad High Court last Friday. Dr. Khan, known to the world as A Q Khan, was accused of “proliferating” sensitive nuclear technology to a few countries. Under international pressure, the then Musharraf regime placed the scientist under house arrest after the now retired military dictator “pardoned” Dr. Khan, widely regarded as a national hero in Pakistan, after he supposedly confessed to “proliferating” nuclear secrets. The scientist later said that the “confession” was made under pressure.
Dr. A Q Khan is a free man now…
Image: Aamir Qureshi (AFP/Getty Images)
The fledgling but virtually powerless democratic government in Pakistan has been taken aback by international criticism and is considering filing an appeal to overturn his release. Despite the fact that the 72-year old scientist had been stripped of all his powers and the fact that his “proliferation network” had been dismantled long ago, the ailing scientist was not released after the democractic government took over in Pakistan.
(If the video does not load, you can watch it here.)
The democratic government should not consider filing an appeal to overturn his release. The ailing 72-year old scientist deserves to be a free man. Dr. Khan has committed no crime. Even in the episode of alleged “proliferation of nuclear secrets”, Dr. Khan was made a scapegoat by the military regime to cover up the involvement of members of the establishment who must have played a part in exchanging nuclear details with a country like North Korea in return for missile technology.
Why has Dr. Khan committed no crime? First, Pakistan is not a member of the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and is not a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) either. So the laws relating to “nuclear proliferation” do not apply to Pakistan. Pakistan did enact laws after the Khan episode against the transfer of nuclear technology, but Dr. Khan cannot be tried under those laws. The only law the scientist would have breached would be the secrecy laws for government officials. But again, it should be clear that one man alone cannot transfer such sensitive technology to other countries without the involvement of powerful members of the establishment. He was made a scapegoat and forced to take all the blame by members of the esatablishment who did not want the world to know the complete story. And the scapegoat was made to suffer under house arrest for so long. He deserves to be free now. And he should be given extra security by the government of Pakistan as rogue intelligence agencies like the Mossad and the CIA would probably want to kidnap him or assassinate him.
Dr. Khan is just a nuclear scientist. None of his alleged “proliferation” activities has led to any nuclear holocaust like the heinous crimes that were perpetrated on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. If anything, people like J. Robert Oppenheimer and Gen. Leslie R. Groves who were responsible for developing the first nuclear bomb are far, far greater criminals than someone like A Q Khan. For a world that did not punish the notorious war criminals who dropped the atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to call A Q Khan “a rogue nuclear scientist” is absolutely ridiculous. The real rogue scientists are the ones like Robert Oppenheimer who developed the filthy nuclear weapons that were used to annihilate the helpless civilians of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Then, there is this “proliferation” nonsense. Its outrageous that five countries (the U.S.A., Russia, China, France and the U.K.) claim every right to stockpile as many nuclear weapons as they like, develop “useable nukes” and even threaten to use it against other countries, and yet seek to prevent the “proliferation” of these weapons to other countries at the same time. It’s a different matter that countries like India, Pakistan and Israel have developed the nuclear bomb and North Korea may have done so.
“Non-Proliferation” is sheer bullshit without total nuclear disarmament! As long as the five self-proclaimed “nuclear powers” who have a “veto” in the United Nations Security Council do not want to give up the huge stockpiles of their disgusting weapons, other countries have every right to develop nuclear weapons to protect themselves from the countries that possess them! If humanity wants to prevent a repeat of the barbaric crimes that were perpetrated on the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then all sensible people in the world must force the five self-declared “nuclear powers” along with any other country that possesses nukes to dismantle the stockpile of their filthy weapons completely. It’s these stockpiles that are a threat to world peace and security, and not the nonsense called “proliferation” that’s dished out by the “nuclear powers” to preserve their notorious hegemony in an unequal world. 😡 As long as the five self-proclaimed “global policemen” want to hang on to their filthy weapons, non-nuclear weapon states are well within their rights to nurture scientists like A Q Khan!
An alien's thoughts about our planet 
Wonderful post Raj… given me a great insight into this issue.. even I have thought he is a threat to the world.. Now I understand.. its not him.. but those 5 nations 😦
Thanks, Kanagu. I don’t understand how this ailing 72-year old scientist can be a threat to anyone, especially after he was made a nobody and his so-called “proliferation network” was dismantled. And I’m pretty sure that he was made the scapegoat to cover up the involvement of powerful members of the establishment.
There is a big threat to global peace and security from the P5 countries who have huge stockpiles of these filthy weapons, of course. It’s those countries who are deliberately sabotaging plans to create a nuclear weapon free world 😦 They have neatly appointed themselves as all powerful members of a useless United Nations. And they want to keep developing and stockpiling newer and more “useable nukes” and yet stop others from building nuclear weapons. Shameless hypocrites! 😡
It’s the nukes in the hands of these 5 countries alone that’s forcing others develop their own nukes. For instance, India and Pakistan would have never developed nuclear weapons had these 5 countries committed themselves to an internationally verifiable total nuclear disarmament plan. But they didn’t want to give up their filthy weapons in order to preserve their hegemony in this unequal world. In fact, the way the P5 have appointed themselves as “global policemen” giving themselves a right to world hegemony is no different from the way the Axis powers – Germany, Japan and Italy wanted to carve up the world among themselves.
For the sake of world peace and security, all civilised people (including ones from the P5) must force the world to act upon a total nuclear disarmament plan and it must be subjected to continuous independent verification. But it will never be done 😦
Alien Earthling,
Yesterday I was reading a book I just received in the mail called “Lies My Teacher Told Me” (available from Amazon.com). It had something interesting to say on this issue. Quoting from the Chapter 2, which is mostly about Christopher Columbus, it says,
“Perhaps foremost amont he significant factors the textbooks leave out are advances in military technology. Around 1400, European rulers began to commission ever bigger guns and learned to mount them on ships. Europe’s incessant wars gave rise to this arms race, which also ushered in refinements in archery, drill, and siege warfare. China, the Ottoman Empire, and other nations in Asia and Africa now fell prey to Euyropean arms, and in 1493 the Americas began to succumb as well.”
“We live with this arms race still. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, the nuclear arms race may have come to a temporary resting point. But the West’s advantage in military technology over the rest of the world, jealously maintained from the 1400’s on, remains very much contested. Western nations continue to try to keep non-Western nations disadvantaged in military technolgy. Just as the thirteen British colonies tried to outlaw the sale of guns to Native Americans, the United States now tries to outlaw the sale of nuclear technolgy to Third World countries. Since money is to be made in teh arms trade, however, and since all nations need military allies, the arms trade with non-Western nations persists. The Western advantage in military technollgy is still a burning issue. Nonetheless, not a single textbook mentions arms as a cause of European world domination.”
Eileen
Dedicated Elementary Teacher Overseas
elementaryteacher.wordpress.com
even after reading this post i cant accept he is innocent ….
anyways thanks for the post 🙂
hypocrites is the word that comes to my mind..
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