christopher kremmer
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| All rights reserved. |
|
Rogue scientist could be Dr Doom
by Christopher Kremmer
Sydney Morning Herald
June 3, 2008
Pakistani scientists know Abdul Qadeer Khan, the "father" of their
country's nuclear arsenal, as a glorified plumber, a mediocre yet
conceited metallurgist who craves the status of national hero. He is
also an inveterate liar.
His denial in recent days of having sold nuclear technology to North
Korea and Iran typifies his moral cowardice. In a tearful television
appearance in February 2004 he admitted to running a proliferation
ring. Now he says he didn't mean it and was acting under duress,
presumably at the behest of the President, Pervez Musharraf.
Dr Khan has told a British newspaper that he will never co-operate
with investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency
examining his crimes.
"Why should I talk to them? I am under no obligation," he said,
adding that the West "doesn't like our prophet, they don't like our
holy book, the Koran. So how could they like me?"
He wants it both ways; to beat his chest as a radioactive Saladin
while cravenly seeking sympathy as a victim of Western persecution.
Musharraf clipped his wings, but instead of allowing the world to
bring Khan to justice, the general confined the rogue scientist to his
comfortable home with a pretty view of Islamabad's Margalla Hills.
Why the velvet glove? Well, rumours suggest Khan's daughters,
who live in Britain, have a hefty file of documents proving the
Pakistan Government knew what their father was doing.
Dr Khan's re-emergence comes as Pakistan marks the 10th
anniversary of its tit-for-tat nuclear tests, conducted after India
went nuclear in May 1998. Home detention has not aided his
rehabilitation. He is emboldened, and there is more to the recanting
of his confession than personal justification. He knows it was civilian
politicians - not generals like Musharraf - who let the nuclear genie
out of the bottle in 1998.
Since February's parliamentary elections, the civilians are back in
government, and doing what they do best - quarrelling over the
spoils of power. They include the Muslim League leader and former
prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Western governments and media
rightly welcomed the return to democracy, but there's a nasty sting
in the tail: nuclear populism.
It was Sharif who, as prime minister, orchestrated an ugly cult of
nuclear triumphalism that led to missile monuments erected outside
railway stations and shrines of mass destruction modelled on the
mountains of Baluchistan, where the tests were done.
Democratic victories in Pakistan are never conclusive enough to
produce leaders capable of eschewing vulgar nationalism. It's all
they have, after all; the army retains real power, and the mullahs
hold the religious high ground.
It was this political reality - rather than a talent for anything other
than cunning - that made Khan a national "hero", and prevented
more questioning of whether it was really in Pakistan's interest to
go nuclear.
The Pakistanis are not the only villains in this dismal saga. The
Western governments who pressured Musharraf on nuclear and
terrorism issues have lost their tongues since February. Perhaps
they wish to avoid forcing the new Government into a corner, or are
waiting for the post-election power struggles between the Pakistan
People's Party leader Asif Ali Zardari and Sharif to settle down. But
when a time bomb is ticking, delay can be devastating. The volatile
cocktail of Islamist violence and nuclear technology is nowhere more
likely to be perfected than in Pakistan.
There is method in Khan's madness. History proves that in
Pakistan, democrats can also be dangerous. The journalist Shyam
Bhatia says in his new book that the late former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto boasted to him that she herself had smuggled
nuclear secrets to Pyongyang in order to facilitate a missile deal.
If he wasn't struggling for his own political survival, Musharraf might
allow himself a rueful laugh. Khan senses that with Musharraf
tamed, he will again enjoy immunity, aiding and abetting the
proliferation of nuclear technology to lunatic regimes-all in the name
of Islam.
If, as he says, he has no reason to co-operate with investigators,
then perhaps it's time the international community gave him one.
We should be negotiating with Pakistan's newly elected leaders, not
pressuring them, to allow International Atomic Energy Agency
officials to interview Khan, over a cup of chai if he likes.
Christopher Kremmer is the author of The Carpet Wars: A Journey Across The
Islamic Heartlands. He covered Pakistan's 1998 nuclear tests and has met Dr
Khan and President Musharraf. He is a research scholar with the Writing and
Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney.
by Christopher Kremmer
Sydney Morning Herald
June 3, 2008
Pakistani scientists know Abdul Qadeer Khan, the "father" of their
country's nuclear arsenal, as a glorified plumber, a mediocre yet
conceited metallurgist who craves the status of national hero. He is
also an inveterate liar.
His denial in recent days of having sold nuclear technology to North
Korea and Iran typifies his moral cowardice. In a tearful television
appearance in February 2004 he admitted to running a proliferation
ring. Now he says he didn't mean it and was acting under duress,
presumably at the behest of the President, Pervez Musharraf.
Dr Khan has told a British newspaper that he will never co-operate
with investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency
examining his crimes.
"Why should I talk to them? I am under no obligation," he said,
adding that the West "doesn't like our prophet, they don't like our
holy book, the Koran. So how could they like me?"
He wants it both ways; to beat his chest as a radioactive Saladin
while cravenly seeking sympathy as a victim of Western persecution.
Musharraf clipped his wings, but instead of allowing the world to
bring Khan to justice, the general confined the rogue scientist to his
comfortable home with a pretty view of Islamabad's Margalla Hills.
Why the velvet glove? Well, rumours suggest Khan's daughters,
who live in Britain, have a hefty file of documents proving the
Pakistan Government knew what their father was doing.
Dr Khan's re-emergence comes as Pakistan marks the 10th
anniversary of its tit-for-tat nuclear tests, conducted after India
went nuclear in May 1998. Home detention has not aided his
rehabilitation. He is emboldened, and there is more to the recanting
of his confession than personal justification. He knows it was civilian
politicians - not generals like Musharraf - who let the nuclear genie
out of the bottle in 1998.
Since February's parliamentary elections, the civilians are back in
government, and doing what they do best - quarrelling over the
spoils of power. They include the Muslim League leader and former
prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Western governments and media
rightly welcomed the return to democracy, but there's a nasty sting
in the tail: nuclear populism.
It was Sharif who, as prime minister, orchestrated an ugly cult of
nuclear triumphalism that led to missile monuments erected outside
railway stations and shrines of mass destruction modelled on the
mountains of Baluchistan, where the tests were done.
Democratic victories in Pakistan are never conclusive enough to
produce leaders capable of eschewing vulgar nationalism. It's all
they have, after all; the army retains real power, and the mullahs
hold the religious high ground.
It was this political reality - rather than a talent for anything other
than cunning - that made Khan a national "hero", and prevented
more questioning of whether it was really in Pakistan's interest to
go nuclear.
The Pakistanis are not the only villains in this dismal saga. The
Western governments who pressured Musharraf on nuclear and
terrorism issues have lost their tongues since February. Perhaps
they wish to avoid forcing the new Government into a corner, or are
waiting for the post-election power struggles between the Pakistan
People's Party leader Asif Ali Zardari and Sharif to settle down. But
when a time bomb is ticking, delay can be devastating. The volatile
cocktail of Islamist violence and nuclear technology is nowhere more
likely to be perfected than in Pakistan.
There is method in Khan's madness. History proves that in
Pakistan, democrats can also be dangerous. The journalist Shyam
Bhatia says in his new book that the late former prime minister
Benazir Bhutto boasted to him that she herself had smuggled
nuclear secrets to Pyongyang in order to facilitate a missile deal.
If he wasn't struggling for his own political survival, Musharraf might
allow himself a rueful laugh. Khan senses that with Musharraf
tamed, he will again enjoy immunity, aiding and abetting the
proliferation of nuclear technology to lunatic regimes-all in the name
of Islam.
If, as he says, he has no reason to co-operate with investigators,
then perhaps it's time the international community gave him one.
We should be negotiating with Pakistan's newly elected leaders, not
pressuring them, to allow International Atomic Energy Agency
officials to interview Khan, over a cup of chai if he likes.
Christopher Kremmer is the author of The Carpet Wars: A Journey Across The
Islamic Heartlands. He covered Pakistan's 1998 nuclear tests and has met Dr
Khan and President Musharraf. He is a research scholar with the Writing and
Society Research Group at the University of Western Sydney.
COMMENTARY |
Click on the latest
comment.....
comment.....