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Dr Khan's issue relegated to backburner

Dr Khan's issue relegated to backburner
Thursday, March 27, 2008
By Dilshad Azeem

ISLAMABAD: The mainstream political forces, now sitting in parliament with an overwhelming majority, have virtually kept the issue of nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadir Khan on backburner with so far no parliamentary voice for his release.

The Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N appeared to have different stands on Dr AQ Khan issue as former wants a final decision from parliamentary forum and latter calls for his immediate release with respect like a national hero.

Both the PPP and the Nawaz League are, by and large, in favour of ending detention of Dr AQ Khan, though it may take time.

"Doctor Sahib should be released immediately and we will formally take up the issue with coalition partners soon after formation of the federal cabinet," said PML-N Secretary Information Ahsan Iqbal while talking to The News here on Wednesday.

PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar, expressing respect for the nuclear scientist, said his party would get a solution of the issue from the platform of parliament instead of an outside decision.

"We want a parliamentary solution either by setting up a parliamentary committee."

Babar maintained that the PPP is supportive of releasing Dr AQ Khan and his free movement at least within the country. "At least the problems, he is presently facing, can be mitigated with certain measures."

When asked to elaborate, he said Khan's relatives can be allowed to meet him freely and he may travel within Pakistan without restrictions.

In response to a question, Babar said the PPP alone would not take a decision on Dr AQ Khan but all the government partners would be taken onboard.

Ahsan Iqbal further said the Nawaz League's stand on this particular question is unchanged and inflexible.

"We firmly believe that he is our national hero and must be set free without any delay."

"The PML-N is part of the government and therefore a final decision can be taken in their consultation for a broad-based consensus," he said.

Dr AQ Khan, he said, is the case of fundamental human rights.

"Our first demand would be an end to the detention of doctor Sahib once Yousuf Raza Gilani forms his cabinet," the PML-N secretary information said.

At the same time, a silence on the Dr AQ Khan issue on part of the political forces prevails since prime ministerial elections and the scenario indicates that there may not be drastic changes in present policy.

Neither Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani nor any one of parliamentary party leaders or top leadership sitting outside parliament raised a question on the detention of the national hero. He is under detention since February 2004.

The parties that boycotted the February 18 elections including Jamaat-e-Islami are in favour of immediate release of founder of Pakistan's nuclear programme but did not come up with a demand from the Gilani-led government.

As combined numerical strength of coalition partners genuinely provides a chance to come up with bold decisions, the whole of the political leadership applauded Gilani's first executive order of freeing the detained judges and many raised the issue of the detention of political detainees.

There have been fiery speeches in the National Assembly on the part of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Asfandyar Wali, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Khwaja Muhammad Asif and a lot many more in the last two sessions, but no one mentioned Dr AQ Khan or his freedom.

As the top US officials made a round of discussions with President Pervez Musharraf, Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani, Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, the question of Mr Khan's free movement remained missing.

The PML-N leader, Nawaz Sharif, in his Tuesdayيs news conference, denied to have given a statement to bring Dr AQ Khan as president of Pakistan. He went harsh to the questioner who reminded him his announcement.

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April 3, 2008
Founder of Pakistan’s Nuclear Program Seeks End to House Arrest

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/wo...gewanted=print
By SALMAN MASOOD
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program who confessed four years ago to having run an illicit global nuclear proliferation network, expressed hope in an interview published Wednesday that the new government would end his house arrest and lift the restrictions on his movements.

In the interview, his first since 2004 when he was put under house arrest in Islamabad, Dr. Khan, 72, bitterly complained about his confinement and what he described as his deteriorating health.

The interview was published by Nawa-i-Waqt, an Urdu-language newspaper, and its sister English-language publication, The Nation. It was unclear precisely when the interview had been conducted and whether it had been done in person or by telephone. Ayesha Khan, one of Dr. Khan’s two daughters, said in an interview on Wednesday evening that there were no signs of her father’s immediate release and that the family had not been approached by any official of the government of Yousaf Raza Gilani, the new prime minister. “Nobody has come to us,” she said.

“The hope has always been there, but we are not holding our breath,” Ms. Khan said when asked if the family was optimistic about the lifting of the restrictions on her father.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Dr. Khan, a metallurgist known here as the “father of the bomb,” is considered a national hero despite his tearful public apology on state-run television in which he said he sold nuclear technology to several countries.

Last year, the government of President Pervez Musharraf eased some restrictions on Dr. Khan, and he was allowed to meet close friends after an authorization issued by the director of the Strategic Plans Division, which is responsible for handling Pakistan’s nuclear program.

Family members said not much had changed.

Ms. Khan also said that her father’s health was deteriorating. “Given his age and prolonged stress, obviously he is having stress-related issues,” she said.

In the published interview, Dr. Khan dismissed claims by Mr. Musharraf that his health was stable. “My lower limbs are losing vitality and I am suffering from extreme lethargy,” he was quoted as saying. He also said that his blood pressure was “unmanageable day by day.”

In early 2004, Dr. Khan shocked the world with a detailed confession in which he admitted that during the previous 15 years he had provided Iran, North Korea and Libya with the designs and technology to produce the fuel for nuclear weapons. He was pardoned because of his national stature, but under an arrangement with Mr. Musharraf he was placed under house arrest indefinitely.

Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister who leads the Pakistan Muslim League-N, which is a member of the newly elected government coalition, has been critical of Mr. Musharraf’s decision to put Dr. Khan under house arrest. Pakistan conducted its nuclear tests in 1998, when Mr. Sharif was the prime minister.