BanglaBhoot
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Abdul Qadeer Khan has a special place in the pantheon of international outlaws. In 2004, he confessed that over a 15-year period he provided some of the worlds most nefarious and dangerous governments Iran, North Korea and Libya with the designs and technology to produce the fuel for nuclear weapons.
The Pakistani metallurgist deserved to be imprisoned for life. But he caught a scandalous break. As the father of Pakistans nuclear weapons program, he is a national hero. And despite the tearful, televised confession in which Mr. Khan insisted that he alone was guilty, it is widely believed that Pakistans powerful military, including Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who was then president and is a former army chief of staff, was complicit in this exceedingly vile trade.
So Mr. Khan was pardoned and put under house arrest. But Pakistan was unable to hold to even that mild punishment.
Last February, a court ordered his release and allowed him to move around the country, although he still was required to inform officials of his travel plans and obtain permission to have visits from intelligence agents and other guests. Then, last month, a court directed the government to lift remaining restrictions.
The United States has pressured the fragile government of President Asif Ali Zardari to maintain restraints and should continue to do so; last Wednesday, a two-member panel of the Lahore High Court reimposed the travel limits. But the rein on Mr. Khan is steadily eroding.
If Pakistan and Mr. Khan had cooperated fully with American and other international investigators over the years, then granting him his freedom might have been a worthwhile trade-off. But as far as is known, the Central Intelligence Agency and international nuclear inspectors were never allowed to interrogate him directly. And he never revealed the full extent of his network, which may well have involved providing the electronic design for a bomb itself.
It was bad enough that Mr. Khan enabled Pakistan to amass a nuclear arsenal now estimated by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at about 70 to 90 weapons. A Pakistani official said that with his bank accounts frozen and international contacts suspended, there is no imminent threat of proliferation from A. Q. Khan. But officials and experts in Washington and elsewhere are concerned that he could still revive a network that was not fully dismantled.
In a recent court petition, Mr. Khan protested the restrictions, saying they made him feel like a prisoner. That is exactly what he should be for his heinous role as maestro of the worlds largest nuclear black market.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/opinion/07mon2.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
The Pakistani metallurgist deserved to be imprisoned for life. But he caught a scandalous break. As the father of Pakistans nuclear weapons program, he is a national hero. And despite the tearful, televised confession in which Mr. Khan insisted that he alone was guilty, it is widely believed that Pakistans powerful military, including Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who was then president and is a former army chief of staff, was complicit in this exceedingly vile trade.
So Mr. Khan was pardoned and put under house arrest. But Pakistan was unable to hold to even that mild punishment.
Last February, a court ordered his release and allowed him to move around the country, although he still was required to inform officials of his travel plans and obtain permission to have visits from intelligence agents and other guests. Then, last month, a court directed the government to lift remaining restrictions.
The United States has pressured the fragile government of President Asif Ali Zardari to maintain restraints and should continue to do so; last Wednesday, a two-member panel of the Lahore High Court reimposed the travel limits. But the rein on Mr. Khan is steadily eroding.
If Pakistan and Mr. Khan had cooperated fully with American and other international investigators over the years, then granting him his freedom might have been a worthwhile trade-off. But as far as is known, the Central Intelligence Agency and international nuclear inspectors were never allowed to interrogate him directly. And he never revealed the full extent of his network, which may well have involved providing the electronic design for a bomb itself.
It was bad enough that Mr. Khan enabled Pakistan to amass a nuclear arsenal now estimated by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at about 70 to 90 weapons. A Pakistani official said that with his bank accounts frozen and international contacts suspended, there is no imminent threat of proliferation from A. Q. Khan. But officials and experts in Washington and elsewhere are concerned that he could still revive a network that was not fully dismantled.
In a recent court petition, Mr. Khan protested the restrictions, saying they made him feel like a prisoner. That is exactly what he should be for his heinous role as maestro of the worlds largest nuclear black market.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/opinion/07mon2.html?_r=1&ref=global-home
