Written by: Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed
Posted on: October 10, 2022 | 
| 中文
(L to R) The nuclear test at Chaghi and Dr AQ Khan
While there have been state funerals for high officials, Sunday’s state funeral for Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan had a marked difference, especially in the extent and level of emotionally charged popular participation. The funeral time was 3:30 pm and when I left for the funeral at 3 pm, I had difficulty entering the premises of the Faisal Mosque, as there was a huge flood of grateful Pakistanis walking to the Faisal Mosque, to pay homage to their hero whom they loved and respected.
Celebrating the nuclear test in Karachi in June, 1998. (L to R) Governor, Lt Gen (Retd.) Moinuddin Haider, the author, Raza Rabbani and Dr AQ Khan
Dr AQ Khan’s contribution as the undisputed Father of The Bomb has immortalized him in the annals of Pakistan’s history. He offered his services to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, soon after India’s May 1974 nuclear explosion. This Indian test had come soon after the traumatic events of 1971 and the partition of Pakistan, as a consequence of external aggression. Both these had a deep impact on the young Pakistani scientist’s mind, then working in Europe. He wrote to Mr. Bhutto that ‘never again’ should Pakistan find itself in this situation of helplessness, that despite being part of the US-led military alliances, it was dismembered with impunity, having the dubious distinction of being the first country in the Third World to have its map changed due to external aggression. The United Nations Charter, international law, and Pakistan’s foreign alliances, could not protect and preserve Pakistan’s territorial integrity, unity and sovereignty.
Dr AQ Khan confidently told Prime Minister Bhutto that he could deliver on Pakistan’s national security by building the Bomb, the ultimate deterrent. Only 5 world powers had this nuclear capability, but now neighbouring India, Pakistan’s nemesis, had also become part of this elite club. The only condition Dr AQ Khan sought from Mr Bhutto: ‘just give me a free hand, and I’ll deliver’! So, the necessary arrangements were soon underway, given Mr Bhutto’s passion for the Bomb and his ability to get things done. A Special Works Organization (SWO) was created for building the nuclear site, for which Kahuta was chosen, close to Islamabad. The Pakistan Army’s Corps of Engineers was entrusted with this task of constructing Kahuta, with the SWO commanded by the then Brigadier Zahid Ali Akbar Khan, who was succeeded a year later by Brigadier Anis Ali Syed. Security was entrusted to a special protective force, separate from the normal security apparatus, headed by Lt General Ali Zamin Naqvi.
Prime Minister Bhutto tasked a special, top-secret team led by Ghulam Ishaq Khan, comprising of Agha Shahi and AGN Kazi, three top distinguished civil servants with unimpeachable integrity, which bypassed routine file work and normal bureaucratic procedures like the PC1, a requirement of the Planning Commission to undertake new projects.
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan with Dr AQ Khan
The Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL), later renamed by President Zia as AQ Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), were separated from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). Hence, the Bomb Project became a separate, autonomous entity, under a clear chain of command, with no bureaucratic red tape to impede its advance. The Bomb Project is an amazing case study of how to promote national goals with tenacity and single-minded determination, especially in a country like Pakistan where coordination, compliance and capacity are key issues undermining decision-making and implementation. That is why in a span of 24 years, between 1974, when the Bomb Project was initiated, up to the time when the nuclear tests were carried out in 1998, the Bomb Project never slowed down, despite massive foreign pressures and sanctions. This was despite a turnover of 4 Prime Ministers, 5 Presidents and 5 Army Chiefs during this period. The project was conceived by a civilian government, and also completed by an elected civilian one, an excellent example of civil-military coordination for a common national strategic objective.
(L to R) President Farooq Leghari, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Dr AQ Khan
The site of Chaghi was chosen for the nuclear test In October 1979 by the eminent nuclear scientist, Dr Ashfaq Ahmed, and where the test was carried out on May 28, 1998.
(From L to R) Dr. Ashfaq, the author and Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, May, 1998 at Chaghi
My personal relationship with Dr Khan started in 1983, when I received a moving, handwritten letter by Dr AQ Khan, lamenting the treatment being meted to Pakistan’s nuclear programme, vilifying Dr Khan and the sustained propaganda against Pakistan’s “Islamic Bomb”. I read his letter and promptly called him for a personal meeting, where I assured him that as Editor of The Muslim, I would be on the frontlines of supporting him and our newspaper, then Pakistan’s most influential independent English daily, would be his voice in promoting, protecting and preserving the nuclear programme.
Dr AQ Khan with the author, then editor of The Muslim, December 3, 1985
Dr AQ Khan was kind enough to invite me to Kahuta to visit the nuclear site in 1998, when I was the Minister for Information. What he had achieved was nothing short of a miracle, utilising our meagre resources with an indigenous, home-grown scientific and technological capability that matched the advanced countries of the world, he had succeeded in building the Bomb.
Dr Khan was also the architect of the Ghauri Strategic Missile, with a range of 1500 kilometers, which was tested on April 6, 1998. There was a high-level meeting at the PM House, where Dr AQ Khan, accompanied by the Army Chief, General Jehangir Karamat, joined Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and I, since I was the Information Minister at the time. Dr Khan proudly presented the video-cassette of the test, which he showed to us on a television screen. While it was agreed to make the announcement via a press release of the Ghauri test, the decision about airing the video-cassette on PTV was held in abeyance. When the meeting ended, Dr AQ Khan came up to me, handed me the video-cassette and quietly whispered: “Shahji, please show the Video of the Ghauri Test on PTV”. I promptly did the needful.
The Ghauri Missile test became the catalyst for India’s own nuclear test on May 11, 1998, which, in turn, enabled Pakistan to respond in kind on May 28, 1998. Dr AQ Khan’s quarter century old dream was finally fulfilled.
It is thanks to the Bomb that Pakistan escaped the fate of Muslim countries like Iraq. In October 2002, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked why they were going after Iraq, which had no proven nuclear capability, while ignoring North Korea’s nuclear programme. Rumsfeld’s cryptic answer: “Because North Korea has the Bomb”.
Libyan leader, Colonel Qaddafi’s daughter, who now lives in exile with her mother in Algiers, lamented in 2012 after the overthrow and killing of her father by a NATO-led coalition, that ‘had my father followed Pakistan’s example and not given up on the Bomb Project, Libya would not have met the fate it did”.
President Muhammad Rafiq Tarar giving Nishan-e-Imtiaz to Dr AQ Khan, 1999
Pakistan salutes the Saviour of the Nation, Dr AQ Khan, for his invaluable contributions for the security and safety of Pakistan!
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