12-14-2004, 03:50 PM
US goes back to the nuclear source- Asia Times
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By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - With the US government insisting that Iran has been secretly working on the development of nuclear weapons, and being frustrated that the United Nations' watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency is "too soft" on Tehran, a new investigation is under way in Pakistan to find evidence of that country assisting Iran's program.
In November the US Central Intelligence Agency reported that the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, was instrumental in selling advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuges to Iran, and that he was likely to have sold it an actual nuclear-weapon design, along with nuclear-fuel material.
The disgraced Khan is currently under house arrest in Pakistan. <b>Asia Times Online sources say that an investigation has begun in Pakistan to track the remnants of Khan's network and previous activities. </b>
Although Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf has denied the fact, Pakistan has agreed to indirect US investigations into Khan and his former network. In terms of an agreement between Islamabad and Washington, the US has supplied a questionnaire to Pakistan for Khan, after which his answers will be returned to US authorities. In the light of the answers, the US will send investigators to Pakistan for ground checks at its nuclear plants, laboratories or any other facilities.
An exclusive investigation carried out by Asia Times Online suggests that the investigations will center on the following:
<b>A key member of Khan's network, Sri Lankan Buhary Seyed Abu Tahir, who is currently a resident in Malaysia.
An unofficial facility where nuclear components might have been handled.
The financial network supporting Khan's activities. </b>
Initial reports have already revealed a facility in Karachi where some of the smuggled nuclear components might have been developed or stored. This is said to be People's Steel Mills Mangopir, from where a local businessmen transhipped the "consignments". The company still operates.
Payment matters were dealt with from the United Arab Emirates by a Dubai-based company owned by a top Pakistani businessmen who deals in gold.
Although investigations in fact started in June last year, when in a surprise and unprecedented move then finance minister and now Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited the restricted areas of Pakistan's Kahota Research Labs (see Musharraf cooks up an American banquet , June 18, '03), the latest investigations will focus on specific areas and targets that the US and Pakistani governments have already agreed upon in principle.
An official report on a US State Department website quotes a senior Bush administration official as saying that Khan is a "traitor to Pakistan". The report, on Washington File, quotes Musharraf as telling US President George W Bush that he believed it was "absolutely in Pakistan's interest" to uncover the remaining elements of the so-called Khan network of nuclear proliferators.
The author, Stephen Kaufman, is Washington File's White House correspondent. He bases his report on a briefing with an unnamed senior Bush administration official. "Asked about the nuclear proliferation network run by Pakistani scientist A Q Khan, the official said Mr Bush was grateful to Mr Musharraf for his 'decisive move' to roll up the network, especially since the move against Khan was initially unpopular among the Pakistani public," the report said.
He quotes the official as telling him that Pakistanis "have come to recognize that A Q Khan was a traitor to Pakistan and a threat to Pakistan's interests, and have supported President Musharraf's efforts to crack down on the A Q Khan network and work with us".
"As a result, a good volume of information was provided that helped the US and other international authorities dismantle the network," the report said. "It allowed us to roll up some pretty significant proliferation networks that we would never have known about," the official told the Washington File.
But the official said that "more work remains to be done" and Musharraf feels it is "absolutely in Pakistan's interest" to continue to uncover any remaining elements of the network.
<b>Already there are reports of a Pakistan-Saudi Arabia nexus on nuclear projects, and observers in Pakistan fear that if Tahir is handed over to the US, a new Pandora's box could be opened, after which Pakistan would come off in a bad light, though any action against Islamabad is unlikely as long as Pakistan remains in a strategic alliance with the US in the "war on terror". </b>
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->US goes back to the nuclear source
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - With the US government insisting that Iran has been secretly working on the development of nuclear weapons, and being frustrated that the United Nations' watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency is "too soft" on Tehran, a new investigation is under way in Pakistan to find evidence of that country assisting Iran's program.
In November the US Central Intelligence Agency reported that the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, was instrumental in selling advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuges to Iran, and that he was likely to have sold it an actual nuclear-weapon design, along with nuclear-fuel material.
The disgraced Khan is currently under house arrest in Pakistan. <b>Asia Times Online sources say that an investigation has begun in Pakistan to track the remnants of Khan's network and previous activities. </b>
Although Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf has denied the fact, Pakistan has agreed to indirect US investigations into Khan and his former network. In terms of an agreement between Islamabad and Washington, the US has supplied a questionnaire to Pakistan for Khan, after which his answers will be returned to US authorities. In the light of the answers, the US will send investigators to Pakistan for ground checks at its nuclear plants, laboratories or any other facilities.
An exclusive investigation carried out by Asia Times Online suggests that the investigations will center on the following:
<b>A key member of Khan's network, Sri Lankan Buhary Seyed Abu Tahir, who is currently a resident in Malaysia.
An unofficial facility where nuclear components might have been handled.
The financial network supporting Khan's activities. </b>
Initial reports have already revealed a facility in Karachi where some of the smuggled nuclear components might have been developed or stored. This is said to be People's Steel Mills Mangopir, from where a local businessmen transhipped the "consignments". The company still operates.
Payment matters were dealt with from the United Arab Emirates by a Dubai-based company owned by a top Pakistani businessmen who deals in gold.
Although investigations in fact started in June last year, when in a surprise and unprecedented move then finance minister and now Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visited the restricted areas of Pakistan's Kahota Research Labs (see Musharraf cooks up an American banquet , June 18, '03), the latest investigations will focus on specific areas and targets that the US and Pakistani governments have already agreed upon in principle.
An official report on a US State Department website quotes a senior Bush administration official as saying that Khan is a "traitor to Pakistan". The report, on Washington File, quotes Musharraf as telling US President George W Bush that he believed it was "absolutely in Pakistan's interest" to uncover the remaining elements of the so-called Khan network of nuclear proliferators.
The author, Stephen Kaufman, is Washington File's White House correspondent. He bases his report on a briefing with an unnamed senior Bush administration official. "Asked about the nuclear proliferation network run by Pakistani scientist A Q Khan, the official said Mr Bush was grateful to Mr Musharraf for his 'decisive move' to roll up the network, especially since the move against Khan was initially unpopular among the Pakistani public," the report said.
He quotes the official as telling him that Pakistanis "have come to recognize that A Q Khan was a traitor to Pakistan and a threat to Pakistan's interests, and have supported President Musharraf's efforts to crack down on the A Q Khan network and work with us".
"As a result, a good volume of information was provided that helped the US and other international authorities dismantle the network," the report said. "It allowed us to roll up some pretty significant proliferation networks that we would never have known about," the official told the Washington File.
But the official said that "more work remains to be done" and Musharraf feels it is "absolutely in Pakistan's interest" to continue to uncover any remaining elements of the network.
<b>Already there are reports of a Pakistan-Saudi Arabia nexus on nuclear projects, and observers in Pakistan fear that if Tahir is handed over to the US, a new Pandora's box could be opened, after which Pakistan would come off in a bad light, though any action against Islamabad is unlikely as long as Pakistan remains in a strategic alliance with the US in the "war on terror". </b>
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