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A. Q. KHAN & OSAMA BIN LADEN
B. Raman
Gen.Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's US-blessed military dictator, continues
to assert, without any fears of contradiction or punitive action by the
US, that the action of a group of scientists of Pakistan headed by
A.Q.Khan in clandestinely selling or transfering military nuclear
technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea was a rogue operation without
the knowledge or approval of the political or military leadership of the
country.In his latest assertion
on the subject, he told the CNN, the US TV channel, in an interview on
March 19, 2004, as follows: " I am extremely positive neither the
Government nor the military was involved. The Pakistan Government had
carried out investigations into the episode and concluded that it was
these individuals who carried out the proliferation of nuclear
technology."
His repeatedly-asserted contention has
been that after the interception by the intelligence agencies of the US
and the UK of a ship in October last year which was found carrying to
Libya a clandestine consignment of centrifuges for uranium enrichment
got manufactured at the instance of A.Q.Khan by a company in Malaysia
with the assistance of a Sri Lankan Muslim, he became aware of the
extensive non-proliferation activities of the A.Q.Khan group and
immediately acted against them.
According to Musharraf, details of the
clandestine travels and proliferation network of A.Q. Khan came to
notice during the subsequent investigation. In one of his statements, he
has even blamed the US intelligence agencies for not uncovering this
network earlier than October last year and asserted that if they had
done so, he would have acted against it even earlier.
Not many experts and analysts of the
world have been convinced of the innocence of Pakistan's military in
this affair. Many of us, including this writer, have been pointing out
that this proliferation started and continued at the instance and with
the blessing of Pakistan's military leadership. I have also been
pointing out in many articles that while the late Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan's
military dictator, who ruled the country from 1977 to 1988, authorised
the proliferation to Iran, Musharraf himself had authorised that to
Libya and North Korea and was totally in the picture.
But, unfortunately, for reasons of
realpolitik, the US Administration has chosen to accept the denials of
military responsibility by Musharraf. It has not only given him a clean
chit, but has even rewarded him and his country by confering on it the
status of a Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA).
Despite the efforts of Musharraf, with
the benediction of the US, to keep his cupboard tightly shut to prevent
the discovery of any more skeletons, nuclear skeletons keep propping up
here, there and everywhere much to his consternation. The skeletons are
there everywhere if only the US wants to look at them.
Was the discovery of the centrifuges in
the ship intercepted last October the first wake-up call as contended by
Musharraf? No.
In 2000, Abdul Ma"bood Siddiqui, a
London-based chartered accountant of Pakistani origin, had written a
book on his reminiscences, which was published by the Hurmat
Publications of Islamabad. In that book, Siddiqui claimed to be a close
personal friend of A.Q.Khan and to have accompanied him in at least
three of his travels abroad. He gives the following details of these
travels:
(Citation starts) "In February,1998, I received a call from Tahir Mian
(My comments: He is the Sri Lankan Tamil who helped A.Q.Khan by getting
the centrifuges manufactured in Malaysia), a dear friend of mine and a
very close associate of Dr.Khan. He said that A.Q.Khan is planning a
visit to Timbuktu and you are invited to join him. My joy knew no bounds
at the prospect of spending a few days with A.Q.Khan. I reached Dubai on
19 February 1998 and met Dr.A.Q.Khan. He had with him one Mr. Hanks, a
Dutch businessman dealing in air filtration system, solar energy,
metallurgical machinery and materials. Lt.Gen.Dr. Chauhan, former
Surgeon-General of Pakistan Army and now Director-General of Medical
Services Division of KRL ( My comments: The Khan Research Laboratories
of Kahuta, which produces enriched uranium for atomic bombs) and
Brig.Sajawal. Dr.Khan told us that we would fly to Timbuktu via
Casablanca in Morocco and Bamako, capital of Mali. (My comments:
Mr.Nawaz Sharif was the Prime Minister at that time)
"At Casablanca, the First Secretary of Pakistan Embassy, Mr.Inayatullah
Kakar, received us. The Honorary Consul-General of Pakistan in Morocco
Hussain bin Jiloon gave a dinner in honour of Dr.Khan, which was also
attended by our Ambassador Azmat Hussain. Next day, we caught the Royal
Morocco Airline for Bamako. From Bamako, a plane was chartered for US $
4,000 to take us to Timbuktu. We had only a few hours at Timbuktu, which
we spent in sight-seeing. We returned to Dubai by the same route.
" Next I met Dr.Khan on 28 June 1998 in Kuala Lumpur at the wedding of
Tahir Mian. (My comment: Nawaz Sharif was still in power). It was
decided there to make another trip to Timbuktu because the last visit
was short and we could not see much of the city. I got the summons in
February 1999 and was on my way to Dubai on 19 February 1999. (My
comment: Nawaz Sharif still in power) Dr.Khan was already there with his
old group with additions of Dr.Fakhrul Hasan Hashmi, Chief Scientific
Adviser to Dr.A.Q.Khan, Brig.Tajwar, Director-General Security KRL, and
Dr.Nazir Ahmed, Director-General S&TC Division KRL. Dr.Khan told us that
this time we would take a different route to Timbuktu. We will fly there
via Sudan and Nigeria.
" We left Dubai for Khartoum on 21 February 1999. The Education Minister
of Sudan received the group and we were lodged at the State Guest House.
After making a short stopover in a Nigerian city, we reached Timbuktu on
24 February 1999. After spending a couple of days, we were on our way
back and our first stop was Niamey, capital of Niger. Our next stop was
N'Djamena, capital of Chad, where we were accorded official protocol.
Next day, we flew to Khartoum. After Dr.Khan has attended to some
business, we visited the Shifa factory that was destroyed last year by
the American missiles. Dr.Khan met the Sudanese President. We were back
in Dubai on 28 February 1999.
" We were again airborne for Timbuktu on 20 February 2000 (My comments:
Musharraf had seized power on October 12,1999) From Dubai, we flew to
Khartoum, where two Sudanese friends joined us. We reached Niamey,
capital of Niger, on 22 February 2000. Our Ambassador Brig. Nisar
welcomed the group and gave a dinner in honour of Dr.Khan. Brig.Nisar
had also served as the Military Secretary of Nawaz Sharif. Niger has big
uranium deposits. We reached Timbuktu on 24 February 2000 for a stay of
two days and were lodged in the newly-built (completed in December 1999)
Hotel La Colombe. We started the return journey on 26 February 2000
touching various countries on the way. We broke our journey in Nairobi,
capital of Kenya, where First Secretary in the Pakistan Embassy
Mr.Najmus Saqib, welcomed us. We were back in Dubai on 29 February 2000
after having visited 10 African countries."
These accounts of three of the travels
of Dr.A.Q.Khan establish conclusively the following facts:
- He had kept the Pakistani Foreign
Office informed of his travels. The Foreign Office had instructed the
Pakistani diplomatic missions in the countries visited by him to
accord the due honours of protocol to him.
- In all the countries, he was
received by officers of the Pakistani diplomatic missions and
entertained by the heads of missions.
- In Sudan, he was accorded the
honours of protocol generally given to a member of the Cabinet and
called on the President of the country.
- He was accompanied by senior serving
scientists of Pakistan's nuclear establishment, who were among those
responsible for Pakistan's military nuclear development. They could
not have gone abroad and remained absent for days without the
knowledge and clearance of the Government.
- At least one Lt.Gen. belonging to
the Pakistan Army's Medical Corps, who had headed it, and two
Brigadiers had accompanied him. They could not have gone and remained
away from the country without the knowledge and clearance of the
Military Headquarters.
The uranium enriched at KRL, Kahuta,
used to come from Africa, mainly Niger. This partly explains the
frequent travels of A.Q.Khan to Africa. From the accounts given by the
Pakistani author, two intriguing questions arise:
- Why did Khan consider it necessary
to visit the site of a factory in Sudan, which became the target of US
Cruise missile attacks after the explosions outside the US Embassies
in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam by Al Qaeda in August 1998? The Americans
had alleged at that time that this factory belonged to Osama bin Laden
and was producing chemicals for weaponisation purposes. Denying this,
the Sudanese authorities had claimed that it was producing
anti-malaria drugs.
- Why was he visiting frequently
Timbuktu, which has apparently no importance from the nuclear point of
view? Pakistani officials have alleged that he had illegally
constructed a hotel there ( Hotel La Colombe?) in the name of his
wife. If he was going there to supervise the construction of the
hotel, he should have been accompanied by experts in building
construction and the hotel industry. No such person accompanied him.
He was always accompanied by scientists and Army officers associated
with KRL and Tahir Mian, who was helping him in the procurement of
centrifuges.
It is reliably learnt from well-placed
observers that it also came out during the recent interrogation of the
associates of Khan in Pakistan's nuclear establishment that after Osama
bin Laden shifted from Khartoum to Afghanistan in 1996, Dr.Khan was also
looking after bin Laden's extensive investments in the mining industry
in many African countries and that the money invested in the Timbuktu
hotel had come from these investments of bin Laden. The Pakistani
authorities have reportedly suppressed this information and not shared
it with the US.
(The writer is
Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New
Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai,
and Distinguished Fellow and Convenor, Observer Research Foundation (ORF),
Chennai Chapter. E-Mail: corde@vsnl.com) |
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