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Abdul Qadeer Khan and the peaceful use of nuclear energy

Zarvan

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Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi



Abdul Qadeer Khan, known as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, reportedly cried when Dhaka fell to Bangladeshi fighters during the civil war that led to the formation of the new state of Bangladesh in 1971. This top scientist’s extraordinary talent and contributions in nuclear science were brought to the attention of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who came to power as prime minister of Pakistan after the secession of East Pakistan. During that time, Bhutto said if India built a nuclear bomb, “we will eat grass, even go hungry, but will get one of our own.”

All successive governments in Pakistan pursued the policy of making a nuclear bomb and the task was accomplished in 1998 when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister of the country. He successfully resisted all the pressure exerted by Western powers to dissuade Pakistan from making a nuclear bomb and said that doing so was a question of life and death as far as Pakistan was concerned.

Every year Pakistan celebrates the day it joined the nuclear club as “Youm-e-Takbir” (the day of greatness). On the occasion of the 16th anniversary of the day, Jeddah's Pakistan Repatriation Council (PRC) organized a symposium titled “Nuclear technology: Our need and obligation”. The symposium focused on the need to take advantage of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and to make use of the expertise, capabilities and experiments of Abdul Qadeer Khan in this respect.

Several leaders of the Pakistani community in Jeddah spoke on the occasion, and all of them hailed Khan as the nation’s symbol of pride, and hoped that he would use his time and capabilities for the betterment of Pakistan and the Muslim Ummah. The speakers noted that all the members of the nuclear club use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, such as electricity generation, manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, development of farming and several other fields. “Pakistan should also follow suit and utilize the blessings from Allah to serve the interests of its people and achieve development in all spheres of life by using nuclear energy,” they said.

Some of the speakers proposed setting up a university for nuclear energy resources and suggested that Khan should be the head of such a higher institution in order to take advantage of his vast knowledge, expertise and experience in the field. The proposed university would attract students from within Pakistan as well as from all other Muslim countries, and this is significant when considering the fact that some Western universities currently refuse to admit Muslim students in some specializations like research in nuclear energy.

One of the speakers compared Khan’s contributions to that of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan who in the 19th century inspired and encouraged Muslims to acquire modern education and learn the English language. He established Aligarh Muslim University, which was instrumental in awakening Muslims from their slumber of ignorance, and enabling them to secure a modern education. The speaker also highlighted the significance of Abdul Qadeer Khan’s abilities to benefit future generations in the nuclear energy sector.

Another speaker said that Pakistan is not deprived of personalities dedicated to serving the people, such as Abdul Sattar Edhi and Majeed Nizami. Edhi founded the Edhi Foundation for humanitarian services, and Nizami created the Nawai Waqf Fund for Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh, who have been deprived of their citizenship and other basic rights especially the right to live in the country of their choice for which they sacrificed everything.

The name of Abdul Qadeer Khan is a matter of pride and honor for all Pakistanis and all other Muslims because he was instrumental in breaking the barrier of isolation imposed by the West on Islamic states with regard to nuclear technology. He made this possible when Western countries maintained a monopoly on nuclear energy despite the fact that every country wants to achieve progress and development by using it for peaceful purposes.

This is why everybody was disappointed when Abdul Qadeer Khan was put under house arrest under a flimsy pretext during the rule of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. There was also disappointment when Khan entered politics and founded a political party. Even though he participated in elections, he did not win a single seat in parliament. Khan has to realize the fact that a prominent scientist may not be able to find a suitable position in politics. His role should be to undertake research and train the nation's outstanding and talented youth to become leading scientists to serve their country and people.

I hope that the PRC’s call to establish a university to specialize in nuclear energy with Khan at its helm will be realized so that the great scientist can devote his time, expertise and experiments to serve Pakistan and its people.


— Dr. Ali Al-Ghamdi is a former Saudi diplomat who specializes in Southeast Asian affairs. He can be reached at algham@hotmail.com

Abdul Qadeer Khan and the peaceful use of nuclear energy | Opinion | Saudi Gazette
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Fully support and wish that Dr. Khan be given role to play.
 
I looked at a very old western documentary which stated that 'Qadeer cried when Dhaka fell and vowed that it will never happen again'.

I salute the men of such a courage. I wish we had a handful more of them. These days our PhD scholars never return.
 
I looked at a very old western documentary which stated that 'Qadeer cried when Dhaka fell and vowed that it will never happen again'.

I salute the men of such a courage. I wish we had a handful more of them. These days our PhD scholars never return.

Believe me mate it is not that they dont want to return. My friend moved back with his family to pakistan last year. He had done PHD in Renewable Energy resources but despite looking for job for an entire year he didnt get any response. I would quote a government official durring his interview "Why do i need you for this job when i can easily hire a technician and give him all the training, You are just too much qualified for us". In pakistan more qualified you are harder it gets to find a job. A person an Associate engineering Diploma finds more prospects for a job than a PHD. This is the dilemma.

Same thing happend to me i came back last year although i got a job but at one point they started treating me like an office boy. So i left.
 
I looked at a very old western documentary which stated that 'Qadeer cried when Dhaka fell and vowed that it will never happen again'.

I salute the men of such a courage. I wish we had a handful more of them. These days our PhD scholars never return.
Dhaka was the real game changer I know many people were really pissed of after that and and we made quite good progress and now we have nuclear war heads we are increasing that too but we need to also build up conventional capability
 
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