Warnings from fellow scientists about the father of Pakistan's nuclear program and his ostentatious wealth raised suspicions Abdul Qadeer Khan was selling weapons technology abroad years before the government was compelled to take action against him, officials say.
Scientists who worked in Pakistan's covert program to build a nuclear deterrent against rival India had warned the government even before its first bomb test in 1998 that Khan was involved in suspect activity, a government official said, speaking Tuesday on condition of anonymity.
The official's comments revealed that Pakistan had internal information about Khan's suspect activities far in advance of his admission last week of nuclear transfers to Iran, Libya and North Korea, all of which are designated as sponsors of terror by the US State Department.
After President General Pervez Musharraf took power in 1999, suspicions over Khan's activities prompted him to tighten controls on the nuclear program and in March 2001 to fire Khan from his top post at the laboratory that enriched uranium for the bomb.
Khan was installed instead in a ceremonial position as government adviser.
But Khan, who has a number of residences around the capital, Islamabad, and is reported to have a hotel in Mali, was only publicly exposed as profiting from the illicit nuclear trade after information provided by Iran to the International Atomic Energy Agency in November indicated a Pakistani connection to the nuclear black market.
After a two-month Pakistani probe, Khan was faced with documentary evidence of his involvement in spreading nuclear hardware and designs to Iran, Libya and North Korea, forcing him to seek clemency to avoid prosecution.
Musharraf told The New York Times in an interview published on Tuesday that he couldn't act earlier against Khan because he didn't have enough evidence to make the politically sensitive arrest of the scientist -- regarded as a national hero in Pakistan.
"It was extremely sensitive," Musharraf said. "One couldn't outright start investigating as if he's any common criminal."
The government official said Khan would be allowed to keep his wealth "untouched" as a result of a pardon granted Thursday by Musharraf -- although the government has yet to make such an announcement.
Musharraf's pardon is viewed by many as a strategy to avoid a public prosecution of Khan that could have exposed official involvement in nuclear transfers.
The government denies it ever authorized such transactions, saying Khan was given a large amount of autonomy to build the bomb using clandestine suppliers after the nuclear program got started in the mid-1970s.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese