Khan has been under virtual house arrest since February 2004 when he ‘confessed’ to having passed nuclear secrets and material to a number of countries—Iran, North Korea and Libya. In recent days, Syria too has been added to that list. The US has been insisting from the beginning that it should be allowed to talk to Khan but the Pakistan government has been equally consistent in refusing to comply with that request. Obviously, Islamabad fears that Khan, if allowed to talk directly to any outside interlocutor, might disclose information that would show complicity of both the Pakistan government and the military in his clandestine nuclear proliferation activities.

The utmost that Pakistan was willing to do for the Americans was to entertain written questions from addressed to Khan and then ask its intelligence agency to pass the questionnaire on to Khan for a reply, which would be communicated to the questioner. The preference for this circumlocutory route is another indication that Islamabad is desperate to ensure that nothing that embarrasses should come from the horse’s mouth and Khan will in all probability die with all the secrets of his nefarious activities, which included flirting with Al Qaeda.

Pakistan wants the world to forget the misdeeds of Khan while its people continue to regard him in high esteem. If the Pakistani dictator, Gen Pervez Musharraf had not ‘pardoned’ Khan for his proliferation sins he would have faced an uncontrollable public fury. Islamabad has also told the world that after smashing the nuclear smuggling network of Khan no proliferation activity has originated from Pakistan. But British media, quoting European Union intelligence, had reported as recently as May that the nuclear underground network was still alive and kicking.

Some members of Pakistan’s national assembly (Parliament) are now trying to get direct access to Khan, not to seek another ‘confession’ or any other details about his nuclear activities but ostensibly to find out the real state of his health and the ‘conditions’ in which he is living. Adding mystery to the whole episode has been the Pakistani government’s order barring even his daughter, Ayesha, from seeing him in his palatial house in an exclusive suburb of Islamabad—one of the many properties in and out of Pakistan that Khan owns.

A ban on other visitors, friend or family members, to Khan’s palace was imposed long time ago. Lately, a high wall around his compound has been erected so that neither he can see beyond his gate nor anyone outside his house can peep in. More security men have been detailed to guard his bungalow.

These ‘security’ measures have closely followed on the heels of an announcement by the Pakistan government that it has completed the investigation into Khan’s clandestine business and the last of the 12 persons arrested after the discovery of Khan secret nuclear network has been released. That last person to be ‘freed’ was one Mohammed Farooq, arrested in December 2003. No details were given; it was not known when exactly he was released. Despite his ‘release’, Farooq, an associate of Khan’s at the Khan Research Laboratory, has been asked to stay indoors in his Islamabad house and not to talk to anyone. It is not known whether he was found guilty of any charge.

Pakistan has maintained that its investigation into the Khan affairs has been ‘thorough’ and has been found ‘satisfactory’ by both the US and the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. That can hardly be the case or else the US would not have been asking Islamabad for direct access to Khan. In any case, nothing much is known about the results of the ‘thorough’ investigation. Since no one in Pakistan has been punished for running the nuclear black market, should it be assumed that it was a one-man enterprise?

Pakistan’s ‘thorough’ investigation has not impressed everyone in the US. As recently as May 19, days after Pakistan had ‘closed’ the Khan investigation and completed a ‘thorough’ job, David Albright had told the US Congress that Pakistan had supplied ‘incomplete’ information and Islamabad ought to provide direct access to Khan. The US is anything but ‘fully satisfied’ with the way Pakistan has handled the Khan investigation case. The US certainly understands that Pakistan will not provide direct access to Khan, taking shelter behind the pretext of national sovereignty and sentiments.

The US interest in talking directly to Khan is, however, not to embarrass the Pakistani government or its military. It is to know what exactly transpired between Khan and Iran. According to Pakistan government Khan has admitted that he supplied nuclear weapon designs to Libya. The Americans are quite sure that he must have supplied the same to Iran too. Conformation of that from Khan would be the ‘clinching evidence’ that Iran’s nuclear programme is not peaceful as it claims.

Sadly, the Americans can only wring their hands in anger and frustration for their inability to get access to Khan. Way back in 1975 when Khan was working as a metallurgist in a Dutch uranium firm, Urenco, he had attracted CIA’s attention for his illegal activities. The Dutch government was also aware of this but when it tried to arrest him it was the CIA which asked the Dutch not to touch him as they (the CIA) were monitoring him to know the extent of his network. This disclosure was made recently by the then Dutch Prime Minister, Ruud Lubbers. Well, the bird flew home to Pakistan with full blueprints of uranium enrichment and other necessary information to set up world’s biggest and most dangerous nuclear proliferation network.


Courtesy : Syndicate Features

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