In a country that takes great pride in having produced the only "Islamic bomb," few people enjoy higher esteem than the scientists at the heart of Pakistan`'s three-decade-old drive to produce a nuclear deterrent to archrival India.
But now, prominent members of the nuclear establishment -- accustomed to being treated as national heroes -- are suffering a humiliating fall from grace.
An investigation into alleged leaks of sensitive secrets abroad has picked up steam since a scientist was first detained two months ago. Over the weekend, a half-dozen more scientists and administrators were rounded up for open-ended interrogation.
The US government has made nonproliferation a priority, fearing nuclear material could end up with terrorists or rogue states. Pressure has mounted on Pakistan to investigate allegations that its program has spilled sensitive technology or know-how to countries such as Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Relatives say as many as 24 men, many of them respected scientists, may be in custody, a far higher number than the government has acknowledged. Family members say they have had no reassurance from the government, no indication where the men are being held and no word on when they might come home.
Defying warnings from government agents, the wives, sons and daughters of several detained men appealed Tuesday for their release.
"First, they treated them as heroes of the nation," an angry Sobia Nazeer Ahmad, daughter of one detainee, told reporters in Islamabad. "Then they treated them like criminals."
Her father, Nazeer Ahmad, is director general of scientific technology and cooperation at Khan Research Laboratories, Pakistan's top nuclear weapons lab. It is named for Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program and a household name nationwide.
On Saturday night, a half-dozen men in civilian clothes turned up at the family's home. They told Ahmad to come for questioning and, the family says, manhandled a servant. They haven't had word of Ahmad since.
In the living room sits a poster-size photograph of a former president hanging Pakistan's most prestigious medal around Ahmad's neck. Above it hangs a plate painted with two nuclear-capable missiles to commemorate the 1998 nuclear missile tests that shocked the world, coming days after a similar demonstration by archrival India. Pakistan is the only predominantly Islamic country with nuclear weapons.
"He's a patriotic and aboveboard man," said another daughter, Saima Adil. "What happened to him was disgraceful. The whole street saw it."
Similar scenes played out at other homes around the capital over the weekend. In one case, a director of the laboratory was taken into custody by a pair of men as he was dining with the now-retired Khan himself.
Ruled by the military for most of its 56 years, the country of 146 million people exists in a permanent state of edginess toward neighboring India. The countries have fought three wars, and nearly had a fourth as recently as two years ago. Relations have warmed in recent months, with talk of comprehensive peace talks to begin soon.
The nuclear establishment is revered for protecting national security. And in a country where so much goes wrong -- from illiteracy and poverty to fitful attempts to restore democracy -- Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) is considered a peerless success.
"KRL is the only institution that our country can boast of in the world, where we are on a par with the developed world," said Shafiq-ur Rahman, whose father, Sajawal Khan Malik, the lab's retired head of maintenance and general services, was detained Saturday.
Until recently, the detentions would have been unthinkable, but since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the US, President General Pervez Musharraf has become a key US ally.
Pakistan has denied officially proliferating nuclear technology, but has acknowledged that rogue individuals may have been the source of leaks.
The government has acknowledged detaining "five to six" scientists and administrators for what it calls "debriefings." Almost none has been released, relatives say, and no formal appearances or charges have been made in court.
"We are moving toward the conclusion of these debriefing sessions," Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said Monday. "We haven't made our final determination yet. There is no presumption of guilt. It is probable that some of these people would be cleared."
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
South Korea would soon no longer be one of the few countries where Google Maps does not work properly, after its security-conscious government reversed a two-decade stance to approve the export of high-precision map data to overseas servers. The approval was made “on the condition that strict security requirements are met,” the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. Those conditions include blurring military and other sensitive security-related facilities, as well as restricting longitude and latitude coordinates for South Korean territory on products such as Google Maps and Google Earth, it said. The decision is expected to hurt Naver and Kakao
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
RSS