New dossier on Khan nuclear network may rock Pakistan

[Neo]

New dossier on Khan nuclear network may rock Pakistan
Sunday, 29 April, 2007

LONDON: Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan is set to attract world attention again next week as a fresh dossier on his nuclear black market network is being made available to the international media in London that might unleash a new storm for Pakistan.

The fresh dossier might put Iran under more pressure than Pakistan, as it is said to focus on the activities of Khan’s nuclear network and its links with Iran to prove it helped Tehran facilitate its own nuclear facilities.

The international press, particularly based in London, Washington and New Delhi, might find a lot of juicy stuff about Pakistan on May 2 from this dossier to report and establish yet again that in addition to certain countries like Iran, North Korea, and Libya, now even terrorists were capable of getting nuclear weapons from black markets like one that was operated by Khan.
Sources claimed that the Pakistan was concerned about the development and was trying to details about the new research paper.

It wanted to prepare itself in advance to face the international media about many of the startling points raised in the new findings.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has published the new document titled “Nuclear black markets: Pakistan, A Q Khan and the rise of proliferation networks: A new assessment”.

According to the paper, the arrest and public confession of Khan in 2004 confirmed the existence of a global proliferation network which had, over almost two decades, provided nuclear technology, expertise and designs to Iran, North Korea, Libya and possibly other countries.

The IISS has now claimed that Khan was not the only nuclear arms merchant and Pakistan was not the only country implicated in his shadowy network. It spanned three continents and eluded both national and international systems of export controls that had been designed to prevent illicit trade.
This highlighted concerns that nuclear technology was no longer the monopoly of the industrially advanced countries, but possibly can be purchased off-the-shelf by both states and terrorist groups.
Meanwhile, it has been claimed that the IISS dossier provides a comprehensive assessment of the Pakistani nuclear programme from which the Khan network emerged, the network’s proliferation activities, and the illicit trade in fissile materials.

In addition, the dossier provides an overview of the clandestine nuclear procurement activities of other states, along with the efforts made both by Pakistan and the international community to prevent reoccurrence of further proliferation networks and to secure nuclear technology. The final chapter assesses policy options for further action.

The IISS is the world’s leading authority on political-military conflict. It has offices in the US and Singapore. The IISS was founded in 1958 in the UK by a number of individuals interested in maintaining civilised international relations in the nuclear age. Much of the institute’s early work focused on nuclear deterrence and arms control and was hugely influential in setting the intellectual structures for managing the Cold War.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topi...=146312&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23

 

[Wounded Healer]

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has published the new document titled “Nuclear black markets: Pakistan, A Q Khan and the rise of proliferation networks: A new assessment”.

is this dossier being published by the PAKISTANI international institute of strategic studies or some other country's?

 

[Adux]

is this dossier being published by the PAKISTANI international institute of strategic studies or some other country's?

It should be mostly under the US.

 

[Neo]

I assume you're right Adu, AQ Khan is a closed chapter as far as we're concerned.
I don't expect it to be good.

 

[Srirangan]

Wasn't there a dossier in U.K. about Iraq's WMD's before the invasion?

 

[PakSniper]

I just tend to push aside western analysts, and some of their think tank groups they are practically useless ranting on about the same thing. They are just boring to listen to.

 

[Neo]

May 04, 2007
Nothing new in dossier on Dr Khan, says FO

By Qudssia Akhlaque

ISLAMABAD, May 3: The Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday shrugged off the disclosures made by the UK-based think tank, International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), in its dossier on nuclear scientist Dr. A. Q. Khan, saying there was “nothing new” that warranted a comment.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam when contacted by Dawn was nonchalant about it and merely said: “This is like many other studies in the past.”

Reiterating that Pakistan had taken a number of measures which included establishing a robust command and control structure and export controls, she underscored: “This has been acknowledged even by this latest report.”

The spokesperson rubbished the notion that Pakistan may still be dependent on illicit sources and smuggling routes to maintain its nuclear programme.

The 176-page dossier launched by the IISS in London on Wednesday is titled: “Nuclear markets: Pakistan, A. Q. Khan and the rise of proliferation networks – a net assessment.”

http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/04/top13.htm

 

[Neo]

Analysis: Pakistan's nukes may resurface

Published: May. 9, 2007

By CLAUDE SALHANI
UPI International Editor

WASHINGTON, May. 9 (UPI) -- The black-market nuclear network established by the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, A.Q. Khan, broken up in 2004, may be dormant but could resume operations in the future, according to a just-released report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The IISS study found no evidence to indicate that Pakistan sanctioned or encouraged the sales of nuclear technology and equipment to Iran, Libya and North Korea as a means to fund its own nuclear program.

The report by Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation, found that Khan ran a black-market operation beyond the reach of the Pakistani government. However, the truth behind Khan's activities is unlikely to ever be fully revealed.

"Pakistan would never allow any foreign intelligence organization to question Dr. Khan," said Fitzpatrick.

He added that the CIA had some knowledge of Khan's proliferation activities while they were in progress, yet did not pay enough attention to them. "There's no doubt that the CIA knew about some of Khan's activities at various stages of his proliferation," Fitzpatrick told a group of journalists in Washington. "There's also no doubt that the CIA didn't give enough attention to this area of private sector proliferation in looking at Iran's nuclear development program over the years."

The CIA, much like other Western intelligence services, was more focused on state-to-state activities rather than on individuals, like A.Q. Khan's network, said Fitzpatrick.

Fitzpatrick, the lead author of a dossier revealing the activities of the A.Q. Khan network, stated that Khan's sales to Libya, for example, "were almost exclusively private business transactions, beyond state control."

The centrifuges that Khan's black-market operation sold to Libya were produced in Malaysia, Turkey, Europe and South Africa and shipped via Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, according to the report.

But given the control Pakistan maintains over its nuclear technology it is hard to imagine that Khan did not enjoy the protection, if not the outright support of Pakistan's intelligence services -- the ISI -- who were known to be supportive of the Taliban in Afghanistan and other radical Islamist organizations, such as Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida.

However, Fitzpatrick's report identified some "gray areas." It remains questionable whether prior to Sept. 11, 2001, Pakistan's government did not have knowledge of Khan's illicit activities or to what degree certain groups within the Pakistani government did not facilitate Khan's nuclear proliferation activities. Soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Washington communicated to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf -- in no uncertain terms -- to stop Pakistan's support of Islamist groups.

In an interview with Pakistan's Dawn newspaper, Fitzpatrick said that former Pakistani army chief Gen. Aslam Beg "encouraged" the Khan network's sales to other countries.

"Ego, money, nationalism and a sense of Islamic fraternity" motivated Khan and his supporters to sell nuclear technology to other Muslim countries, he said. "Different motivations in different cases."

Fitzpatrick said in his report that he did not think Pakistan sold its nuclear technology in order to raise money for its nuclear program.

Additionally, Fitzpatrick also found no link between Khan's network of nuclear proliferators and the terrorist group responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon just outside Washington.

Although Khan was removed from Pakistan's nuclear program in January 2004 and placed under house arrest by President Musharraf, he remains a very popular and revered figure in Pakistan. However, despite an official pardon from Musharraf, Khan remains under house arrest.

Following Khan's arrest, Washington declared that the network had been shut down. But according to Fitzpatrick's report published by the IISS, it is believed that some of Khan's associates have escaped law-enforcement attention and "may resume their black-market business."

According to Fitzpatrick, Khan established a procurement network to keep Pakistan's nuclear program operational. Fitzpatrick said the Khan network was made up of about 50 members that included operators from Dubai, Turkey, Malaysia, Switzerland and Germany, as well as from Pakistan.

Given the strong demand for nuclear technology by governments as well as from terrorist groups, the possibility of Khan reactivating his black-market network remains a distinct possibility.

http://www.upi.com/International_In...9/analysis_pakistans_nukes_may_resurface/8292

 

[ahussains]

Wasn't there a dossier in U.K. about Iraq's WMD's before the invasion?

and whats its reality ?? every one is saying that Iraq have chemical and mass Distrution weapns .... Where are they till now ??? and the same case about AQ Khan goes on here ...

Just to put some more pressure to do more

 

[Neo]

Nothing new...its all anti lobby.

 

[Interceptor]

Propoganda AQ Khan has nothing to do with this under ground Nuke market the guy is just a diversion for the real masters behind the market namingly the Pakistani Generals. It just doesn't make sense how can this person have so much power that he can ship nukes out of the country when the its monitored continuously by the Military.