02-11-2004, 10:21 PM
<b>DR KHAN AND ASSOCIATES NOT SCIENTISTS BUT BOMB MAKERS : HOODBHOY</b>
WASHINGTON: <b>Noted Pakistani physicist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy said here on Monday that to call Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and his associates scientists was a âslur on scienceâ as they were not scientists but âbomb-makersâ.
In a lecture at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Dr Hoodbhoy said Dr Khan was a metallurgist who was responsible for the enrichment of uranium required for a weapon, while the weapon was actually built by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission people. He said Pakistan had made the bomb in 1985-86, while the first contacts with Iran started in 1987 and continued until 2000.
The Pakistani anti-nuclear campaigner said it was not possible for Dr Khan to have passed on nuclear technology to other countries on his own. The level of security at Kahuta was âincredibly highâ as he knew from his own students, some of whom worked there, said Dr Hoodbhoy, adding that all that could have gone out of there unnoticed was perhaps âan idea or twoâ but there was no question of any equipment leaving those nuclear facilities undetected by the security personnel, overseen by a Lt General of the army.</b>
Dr Hoodbhoy said in answer to a question that Pakistan would now be forced into accepting a monitoring system that the international community would consider reliable and reassuring. The country would be subjected to a âvery high degree of pressure,â he added. There would be strict monitoring of the uranium enrichment process to determine what went in and what came out. There would be insistence that Pakistan institute an audit system governing fissile material. He said that the âethosâ of those involved in the nuclear establishment was solidly middle class and conservative. Their worldview was accordingly shaped, he pointed out. He said Pakistanâs defence budget was not transparent as it consisted on âjust one lineâ.
Dr Hoodbhoy said transferring technology to Libya was a strange decision as the country had no technical base and its decision-making was âquirky and idiosyncraticâ. It was lucky for the world that what Libya was given did not get transformed into a weapon. He accused India of having triggered a nuclear race in South Asia, starting with its first bomb in 1974. Indiaâs missile programme had caused Pakistan to follow suit. No amount of pressure, he predicted, would stop Pakistan from taking the necessary steps in missile development every time India went ahead with another upgrading or test of its missiles, one of which was Pakistan-specific.
Asked about Dr Khanâs motivation, Dr Hoodbhoy called him a Pakistani nationalist who vowed in 1971 that he would do what he could to make Pakistan safe from further dismemberment. That was when he approached Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and was invited to come. He came and with him he brought the necessary uranium enrichment technology. He said he helped Pakistan make the bomb and he also made money for himself. He said Dr Khan had broken no law as Pakistan was not an NPT signatory. He also said that President Musharraf could not possibly have had knowledge of nuclear transfers to Libya as they had begun years earlier and came to an end in 2000. He said Libya bankrolled Pakistanâs nuclear programme at its inception. Saudi Arabia also provided financial help.
Asked about Dr Khanâs exposure, <b>Dr Hoodbhoy said President Musharraf had acted out of compulsion as the United States was âbreathing down his neckâ. He said the deal with Dr Khan could be called plea-bargaining. He predicted that this was ânot the end of the matterâ as further new revelations would come. He said the US used a double standard in nuclear matters. American satellites, for instance, were not permitted to take any photographs when they flew over Israel. Asked how thorough the Pakistani investigation into the nuclear leaks, sales and transfers was going to be, he replied that the investigation was being handled by the ISI, the very agency that was responsible for the security of the compromised programme.</b>
Dr Hoodbhoy warned that the danger did not lie in Pakistan but in Russia where there were hundreds of disassemble nuclear weapons just ârotting away.â Washington had stopped buying them as it had started to do because it had taken the position that this amounted to giving assistance to Russia. He said there was âtons of fissile uranium and plutoniumâ in Russia and that was posed âthe real dangerâ. âKhalid Hasan
Cheers
WASHINGTON: <b>Noted Pakistani physicist Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy said here on Monday that to call Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and his associates scientists was a âslur on scienceâ as they were not scientists but âbomb-makersâ.
In a lecture at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Dr Hoodbhoy said Dr Khan was a metallurgist who was responsible for the enrichment of uranium required for a weapon, while the weapon was actually built by the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission people. He said Pakistan had made the bomb in 1985-86, while the first contacts with Iran started in 1987 and continued until 2000.
The Pakistani anti-nuclear campaigner said it was not possible for Dr Khan to have passed on nuclear technology to other countries on his own. The level of security at Kahuta was âincredibly highâ as he knew from his own students, some of whom worked there, said Dr Hoodbhoy, adding that all that could have gone out of there unnoticed was perhaps âan idea or twoâ but there was no question of any equipment leaving those nuclear facilities undetected by the security personnel, overseen by a Lt General of the army.</b>
Dr Hoodbhoy said in answer to a question that Pakistan would now be forced into accepting a monitoring system that the international community would consider reliable and reassuring. The country would be subjected to a âvery high degree of pressure,â he added. There would be strict monitoring of the uranium enrichment process to determine what went in and what came out. There would be insistence that Pakistan institute an audit system governing fissile material. He said that the âethosâ of those involved in the nuclear establishment was solidly middle class and conservative. Their worldview was accordingly shaped, he pointed out. He said Pakistanâs defence budget was not transparent as it consisted on âjust one lineâ.
Dr Hoodbhoy said transferring technology to Libya was a strange decision as the country had no technical base and its decision-making was âquirky and idiosyncraticâ. It was lucky for the world that what Libya was given did not get transformed into a weapon. He accused India of having triggered a nuclear race in South Asia, starting with its first bomb in 1974. Indiaâs missile programme had caused Pakistan to follow suit. No amount of pressure, he predicted, would stop Pakistan from taking the necessary steps in missile development every time India went ahead with another upgrading or test of its missiles, one of which was Pakistan-specific.
Asked about Dr Khanâs motivation, Dr Hoodbhoy called him a Pakistani nationalist who vowed in 1971 that he would do what he could to make Pakistan safe from further dismemberment. That was when he approached Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and was invited to come. He came and with him he brought the necessary uranium enrichment technology. He said he helped Pakistan make the bomb and he also made money for himself. He said Dr Khan had broken no law as Pakistan was not an NPT signatory. He also said that President Musharraf could not possibly have had knowledge of nuclear transfers to Libya as they had begun years earlier and came to an end in 2000. He said Libya bankrolled Pakistanâs nuclear programme at its inception. Saudi Arabia also provided financial help.
Asked about Dr Khanâs exposure, <b>Dr Hoodbhoy said President Musharraf had acted out of compulsion as the United States was âbreathing down his neckâ. He said the deal with Dr Khan could be called plea-bargaining. He predicted that this was ânot the end of the matterâ as further new revelations would come. He said the US used a double standard in nuclear matters. American satellites, for instance, were not permitted to take any photographs when they flew over Israel. Asked how thorough the Pakistani investigation into the nuclear leaks, sales and transfers was going to be, he replied that the investigation was being handled by the ISI, the very agency that was responsible for the security of the compromised programme.</b>
Dr Hoodbhoy warned that the danger did not lie in Pakistan but in Russia where there were hundreds of disassemble nuclear weapons just ârotting away.â Washington had stopped buying them as it had started to do because it had taken the position that this amounted to giving assistance to Russia. He said there was âtons of fissile uranium and plutoniumâ in Russia and that was posed âthe real dangerâ. âKhalid Hasan
Cheers