Top Pakistani Scientist Bargains With Incriminating Nuclear Documents

Top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has reportedly confessed to being behind an international nuclear proliferation network, has refused to surrender documents suspected of incriminating the Pakistani military, the London Sunday Telegraph reported Sunday (see GSN, Feb. 13).

The documents, which are believed to demonstrate that senior Pakistani army officials, including President Pervez Musharraf, knew of Khan’s efforts to transfer Pakistani nuclear technology abroad, are believed to be in the possession of Khan’s daughter Dina, who lives in London. Khan agreed to surrender the documents for a pardon, which he received, but he has yet to do so, Pakistani intelligence officials said. They also said they believe Dina is prepared to release the documents if her father is brought to trial.

“The government has been trying to retrieve the documents since Dr. Khan was offered a presidential pardon last week but they are yet to receive them, even though he promised,” a Pakistani intelligence official said.

“If his daughter reveals this secret information in retaliation, it could create problems both for the country and its nuclear program,” an intelligence official said (Ansari/Schofield, London Sunday Telegraph, Feb. 15).

Pakistani officials and senior scientists said yesterday that Khan was able to avoid suspicion for so long by doling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase loyalty.

“If you wrote to him that you wanted to attend a seminar or that your daughter was getting married, he would write back and there would be a check in there for you,” said Pervez Hoodhboy, a physicist at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. “Sometimes there would be $50,000 or $100,000. He was very generous and he bought a lot of support, so people didn’t say anything,” Hoodhboy said.

Khan’s authority as head of Pakistan’s nuclear program gave him almost complete control over how the program’s vast funding was spent, and the secrecy of the program resulted in Khan having little oversight, said opposition lawmaker Farhatullah Babar.

“The kind of vast administrative and financial powers, without any check on them, that were given to Dr. A.Q. Khan was unprecedented and unusual," Babar said. “The powers given to him were so great that he could use the funds however he wanted. … Whoever has such great powers, it is a normal human failure to abuse them,” he added.

Several Pakistani officials said Khan paid senior journalists and newspaper columnists to bolster his image as having defended Pakistan against the threat posed by India’s nuclear arsenal.

“He meticulously cultivated his image from Day One,” said A.H. Nayyar, another physics professor at Quaid-e-Azam University. “He doled out state money to create the image of a hero who was untouchable and beyond any investigation. He worked very hard at that and he was very, very clever,” Nayyar said (Paul Haven, Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 17).

Last night, the Pakistani Senate debated the refusal of Musharraf’s government to call a joint session of the Pakistani Parliament to discuss Khan’s activities, according to the New York Times.

During the debate, opposition lawmakers accused Musharraf’s government of hiding the role of the military in the transfers and of humiliating Khan, seen by many in Pakistan as a national hero.

“We are moving toward a massive whitewash,” said Raza Rabbani of the Pakistan People’s Party, “so that responsibility can be placed on one person or a group while others get away scot-free.”

Musharraf’s supporters, however, argued that Khan’s activities were a “sensitive issue” that should not be politicized.

“We have to decide,” said Information Minister Sheik Rashid Ahmed. “Do we want to walk with the world or do we want to fight with the world?” he added (Masood/Rohde, New York Times, Feb. 17).

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates Central Bank said Sunday that a Dubai-based businessman suspected of being a major player in the international nuclear network would be investigated only if there was evidence he was involved in illegal activities.

B.S.A. Tahir and his company SMB Computers are suspected of having been an important middleman in the nuclear black market orchestrated by Khan. Central Bank Governor Sultan bin Nasser Al Suwaidi said yesterday, though, that the reports of Tahir’s involvement are only “speculation” at this time.

“If we find something real then we’ll investigate it financially, but these are news items. If and when the time arises we might investigate,” Al Suwaidi said (Reuters/Gulf News, Feb. 16).

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton has said the Bush administration does not believe the Malaysian government was responsible for a shipment of Malaysian-made uranium enrichment centrifuge components intercepted en route to Libya last year.

Referring to a nuclear nonproliferation speech made by U.S. President George W. Bush last week, Bolton said, “There was never any suggestion that the government of Malaysia was involved” (Associated Press, Feb. 17).

Meanwhile, the company that produced the components, Scomi Precision Engineering, is still open and operating, despite recent claims by CIA Director George Tenet that Malaysian authorities shut the company down, Newsweek reported (Hirsh/Schafer, Newsweek, Feb. 23).

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