On 10th October 2021 Renowned nuclear scientist and national icon Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was laid to rest in Islamabad. His funeral prayers, led by Prof Dr Ahmed Al Ghazali, were held at the Faisal Mosque at 3:30pm.A large numbers of people were in attendance during the funeral prayers, despite rain which began to pour shortly after 3pm.Among those who attended the funeral were cabinet members, parliamentarians and the military leadership.
1 April 1936 – 10 October 2021), A. Q. Khan, was a Pakistani nuclear physicist and metallurgical engineer who is colloquially known as the “father of program”. An émigré from India who migrated to Pakistan in 1952, Khan was educated in the metallurgical engineering departments of Western European technical universities where he pioneered studies in phase transitions of metallic alloys, uranium metallurgy, and isotope separation based on gas centrifuges. After learning of India’s ‘Smiling Buddha’ nuclear test in 1974, Khan joined his nation’s clandestine efforts to develop atomic weapons when he founded the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in 1976 and was both its chief scientist and director for many years.
In January 2004, Khan was subjected to a debriefing by the Musharraf administration over evidence of nuclear proliferation handed to them by the Bush administration of the United States. Khan admitted his role in running the proliferation network. only to retract his statements in later years when he leveled accusations at the former administration of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1990, and also directed allegations at President Musharraf over the controversy in 2008.
Khan was accused of selling nuclear secrets illegally and was put under house arrest in 2004, when he confessed to the charges and was pardoned by then President Pervez Musharraf After years of house arrest, Khan successfully filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government of Pakistan at the Islamabad High Court whose verdict declared his debriefing unconstitutional and freed him on 6 February 2009 .The United States reacted negatively to the verdict and the Obama administration issued an official statement warning that Khan still remained a “serious proliferation risk”. On 10 October 2021, Khan died of COVID-19 complication but what he can do for Pakistan he did.
Another leader Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was the founder of Pakistan’s atomic bomb program, and due to his administration and aggressive leadership of this program, he is often known as the Father of Nuclear deterrence program.
Bhutto’s interest in nuclear technology was said to have begun during his college years in the United States when Bhutto attended a course in political science, discussing the political impact of the U.S.’s first nuclear test, Trinity, on global politics.While at Berkeley, Bhutto witnessed the public panic when the Soviet Union first exploded their bomb, codename First Lightning in 1949, prompting the U.S. government to launch their research on ‘hydrogen’ bombs.However, long before in 1958, as Minister for Fuel, Power, and National Resources, Bhutto played a key role in setting up the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) administrative research bodies and institutes. Soon, Bhutto offered a technical post to Munir Ahmad Khan in PAEC in 1958, and lobbied for Abdus Salam to be appointed as Science Adviser in 1960. Before being elevated to Foreign Minister, Bhutto directed the funds for key research in nuclear weapons and related science
In October 1965, as the Foreign Minister Bhutto visited Vienna, where nuclear engineer Munir Ahmad Khan working at a senior technical post at the IAEA. Munir Khan informed him of the status of the Indian nuclear program and the options Pakistan had to develop its own nuclear capability. Both agreed on the need for Pakistan to develop a nuclear deterrent to counter India. While, Munir Khan had failed to convince Ayub Khan, Bhutto had said to Munir Khan: “Don’t worry, our turn will come“. Shortly after the 1965 war Bhutto, at a press conference, declared that “even if we have to eat grass, we will make nuclear bomb. We have no other choice.” as he saw India was making its way toward developing the bomb. In 1965, Bhutto lobbied for Salam and succeeded in appointing Salam as the head of Pakistan’s delegation at IAEA, and helped Salam to lobby for acquiring nuclear power plants.In November 1972, Bhutto advised Salam to travel to the United States to evade the war, and advised him to return with the key literature on nuclear weapons history. By the end week of December 1972, Salam returned to Pakistan, loaded with literature on the Manhattan Project in huge suitcases. In 1974, Bhutto launched a more aggressive and serious diplomatic offensive on the United States and the Western world over the nuclear issues. Writing to the world and Western leaders, Bhutto made it clear and maintained:
Pakistan was exposed to a kind of “nuclear threat and blackmail” unparalleled elsewhere…. If the world’s community failed to provide political insurance to Pakistan and other countries against the nuclear blackmail, these countries would be constraint to launch atomic bomb programs of their own!… ssurances provided by the United Nations were not “Enough!”…
Roughly two weeks after experiencing the 1971 winter war, on 20 January 1972 Bhutto rallied a conference of nuclear scientists and engineers at Multan.
While at the Multan meeting scientists were wondering why the President, who had so much on his hands in those trying days, was paying so much attention to the scientists and engineers in the nuclear field.At the meeting Bhutto slowly talked about the recent war and the country’s future, pointing out the existence of the country was in great mortal danger.While the academicians listened to Bhutto carefully, Bhutto said: “Look, we’re going to have the bomb”. Bhutto asked them: “Can you give it to me? And how long will it take it to make a bomb?”
Many of senior scientists had witnessed the war, and were emotionally and psychologically disturbed, therefore, the response was positive when the senior academic scientists replied: “Oh…Yes.. Yes… You can have it.There was a lively debate on the time needed to make the bomb, and finally one scientist dared to say that maybe it could be done in five years.Prime Minister Bhutto smiled, lifted his hand, and dramatically thrust forward three fingers and said: “Three years, I want it in three years.” The atmosphere suddenly became electric
It was then that one of the junior scientist Siddique Ahmad Butt (a theoretical physicist), who under Munir Khan’s guiding hand would come to play a major role in making the fission weapon possible – jumped to his feet and clamored for his leader’s attention.Siddique Ahmad Butt replied: “It can be done in three years.” When Bhutto heard Butt’s reply, Bhutto was very much amused and said: “Well…. Much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, this is a very serious political decision, which Pakistan must make, and perhaps all Third World countries must make one day, because it is coming. So can you boys do it?”. Nearly all senior scientists replied in one tone: Yes… We can do it, given the resources and given the facilities.” Bhutto ended the meeting by simply saying: “I shall find you the resources and I shall find you the facilities.
Before the 1970s, the nuclear deterrence was long established under the government of HuseynShaheedSuhrawardy, but was completely peaceful and devoted to civilian power needs. Bhutto, in his book The Myth of Independence in 1969 wrote that:
If Pakistan restricts or suspends her nuclear deterrence, it would not only enable India to blackmail Pakistan with her nuclear advantage, but would impose a crippling limitation on the development of Pakistan’s science and technology…. Our problem in its essence, is how to obtain such a weapon in time before the crisis begin.
Bhutto brought Dr Abdul Qadeer to Pakistan from Netherlands to administer the atomic program
Nawaz was another leader who made the nuclear weapons and energy program one of his top priorities. He expanded the nuclear energy program, and continued an atomic program while following a policy of deliberate nuclear ambiguity.
This resulted in a nuclear crisis with the United States which tightened its embargo on Pakistan in December 1990 and reportedly offered substantial economic aid to halt the country’s uranium enrichment program. Responding to US embargo, Nawaz announced that Pakistan had no atomic bomb, and would sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty if India did as well. The embargo blocked plans for a French-built nuclear power plant, so Nawaz’s advisors intensively lobbied the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which allowed China to establish CHASNUPP-I nuclear power plant and upgrade KANUPP-I.
Nawaz’s nuclear policy was considered less aggressive towards India with its focus on public usage through nuclear power and medicine, viewed as a continuation of the US Atoms for Peace program. In 1993, Nawaz established the Institute of Nuclear Engineering (INE) to promote his policy for the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Now look our history, Bhutto was hanged, Nawaz was forced to go out of the country and Dr Abdul Qadeer was domestically imprisoned.
This is how we treated our leaders who made Pakistan safe but Generals ruling Pakistan for 46 years out of 74 years always tried to remain in US Camp though at the cost of bringing Pakistan in to danger.
Interestingly Imran Khan did not participate in Qadeer funeral. Bhutto was buried in te night even not allowing his relatives to participate. This is how establishment and their instituted leaders treated the heroes of Pakistan.