A historic day

In the previous three parts of this column I reproduced the farewell speech delivered by Gen Musharraf and the letter written by Ghulam Ishaq Khan to Zahid Malik. After the tests of May 28, 1998, I received felicitations from the president, PM, services chiefs and many other people for a job well done and for saving Pakistan from future dangers.

The then president Rafiq Tarar wrote: “With God’s grace, Pakistan demonstrated its nuclear capability on May 28, 1998. The whole nation spontaneously expressed its heartfelt appreciation, admiration and love for the team of our nuclear scientists on accomplishment of this remarkable technological feat.

“The restoration of the strategic security balance would not have been possible but for your brilliant work and superb leadership provided to the team of dedicated scientists and engineers. “May I congratulate you and your team on my behalf and on behalf of the whole nation for one of the greatest achievements in our history. May Allah Subhanahu Taala bless you all with continued success, happiness and glory.”

PM Nawaz Sharif wrote: “It has been a long and difficult road, replete with obstacles at every stage. But thanks to the dedicated and persistent efforts of you and your team of scientists and engineers, all impediments were successfully overcome. And, as a result, our long-cherished dream of a safe and secure Pakistan is today, by the grace of Allah Almighty, a reality.

“The whole nation is justifiably proud of your remarkable achievement and every Pakistani, both at home and abroad, is standing that much taller. I am confident that under your dynamic leadership, Pakistan’s nuclear and missile capability would be further refined and enhanced in the days to come, thereby adding immeasurably to our security.

“On behalf of my government and the entire nation, I would like to extend to you and your team, sincerest felicitations and our heart-felt gratitude for a job well done. May Allah Almighty also bless your future endeavours.”

Air Chief Marshal Pervez Mehdi wrote:  “1. Pakistan’s matching nuclear response meted out to our adversary on 28 May, 1998 will, indeed, go down as a landmark in our national history. On accomplishment of this feat, I salute your dynamism as the architect of Pakistan’s nuclear capability. I also compliment your dedicated team on living up to the nation’s aspirations.

“2. We have been forced by India’s imperviousness to reason and emboldened hegemony to achieve our nuclear sovereignty. In fact, nothing is superior to Pakistan’s security, and the entire Pakistan Air Force is proud of you as a national hero.

“3. I pray for your success and glory, and the greater strength of our national defence in the days to come.”

Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Fasih Bokhari, wrote: “On behalf of the officers, men and women of the Pakistan Navy and my own behalf I congratulate you and your team for one of the greatest achievements in our history marked by the successful launching of the ‘Ghauri’ missile and the nuclear tests. Your dedicated and concerted efforts in this task of supreme national interest are praiseworthy and laudable. “I wish you and your team many more successes in the future.”

COAS Gen Jehangir Karamat wrote: “Undoubtedly, it signals our nation’s trust and faith in your outstanding abilities and all the men working under you. Your achievements to date are a source of strength and pride for the whole nation.”

Agha Shahi told reporters of daily Dawn (4.6.2001) and daily Jang (1.7.2001) respectively: “If there is nuclear capability in the hands of Pakistan today, this country owes it to A Q Khan.”

“The credit for Pakistan’s nuclear capability can rightly be claimed by Dr A.Q. Khan, who turned this impossible mission into a possible target.” Since it will be 30 years in December of this year that KRL made Pakistan into a virtual nuclear power, I thought it pertinent and important to set the record straight, once and for all. After the nuclear tests of May 28 and 30 1998, Prince Sultan bin Ibn Saud, Defence Minister of Saudi Arabia, and his son, Gen Prince Khalid bin Sultan, personally came to Pakistan to congratulate then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The PM brought his royal guests, together with the three services chiefs, to visit Kahuta and they spent many hours there visiting all the facilities, including the nuclear weapons (inserted in Ghauri missile warheads) and Ghauri Missiles. Had this not been the work of KRL, the PM would have taken the royal guests elsewhere. This visit was actually blown out of proportion by the western media.

Given below is a latest development in the nuclear saga – one which many within Pakistan and abroad already knew of. It comes from a well-known journalist who has close links with the US and British governments and intelligence agencies. He may, perhaps, even have contacts with some of our own responsible functionaries. I reproduce his text below:

“Dear Dr Khan,

“It’s been quite a while since I wrote to you. I am prompted to do so after seeing a recent column by you in the daily The News. I am giving this note to a friend who is flying to Islamabad and will post it to you from there.

“In that piece you write some thoughts about the high points of Pakistan’s scientific and engineering progress and the political beats which went alongside them. It was a timely piece, given the hoo-hah over the prime minister’s visit to Delhi for the ‘coronation’.

“I just returned from a research trip to Washington DC where I met with some of those analysts and policymakers in the US State Department and Pentagon who ruled over their so-called ‘non-proliferation’ regime of the 1980s and 1990s – which of course we all know was a punitive stick and carrot with which to seduce allies and bully opponents.

“I thought I would send you this information, as I was surprised by what I heard. The first time I met with these Americans, all of them toed the party line and refused to accept that a deal was done to clear Musharraf et co, landing the blame squarely on yourself and your inner circle for the trade in knowledge and components, etc. This, of course, was not true. They knew very well that your governments was backing your actions, just as they had backed your helping the Chinese with the invaluable centrifuge technology.

“This time, as events have changed in DC and Pakistan, and all of these figures have left government, the accounts they gave were startlingly different. All of them agreed that a ‘deal was struck’ which sought to ‘criminalise’ your actions, along with a concerted campaign to create the impression that everything you had done was done for profit and to serve some avaricious interest or other. These measures, it seems were at the behest of Musharraf, who by then had bought into the entire US programme.

“Given his travails now, the US officials feel able to talk on the record, and have shown documentation that supports their contention.

“The claims are interesting for many reasons, not least showing how someone they all regarded, and I quote, as ‘one of the pre-eminent industrialists of the age’ was cast out to boost the US’s supposed ties with Musharraf, an act that was also designed to cleanse him.

“I thought I would share these thoughts with you, and there is more besides. Either way, so much times has passed, it seems the time is ripe to correct the record. Yours, XXX (name withheld upon request)”

I have nothing further to add to our nuclear saga. Concluded

Email: dr.a.quadeer.khan@gmail.com