A Nuclear Crown: Indeed!

A Nuclear Crown
As Dr A.Q. Khan undergoes surgery for cancer, Pakistan comes out in his support
MARIANA BAABAR
Outlook India, From September 25 edition

It's Saturday, September 9, and people are thronging outside the posh Agha Khan hospital in Karachi. Inside the hospital's operation theatre is Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan—father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb and the symbol of the nation's military prowess and pride—being operated upon for prostate cancer. Bouquets of flowers keep pouring in, as do messages from concerned citizens. There are people holding banners and placards reading: Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan get well soon. The entire nation is praying for Dr Qadeer's early recovery. Honour of the nation—get well soon.

Among the throng are politicians patiently waiting to hear the latest health bulletin on Khan.

Former PM Benazir Bhutto has announced her presence through flowers. Hundreds participate in the prayers that Jamaat-e-Islami senior leader Prof Ghafoor Ahmed leads, wishing for the controversial scientist's speedy recovery. Prof Ahmed said, "The government should lift restrictions
on Qadeer Khan. A.Q. Khan is the benefactor of not only Pakistan, but the entire Muslim world."

Soon, pigeons are released from cages. They wing their way into the grey skyline of Karachi. Into freedom. Ah, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan is well, the operation on him has been successful, glory be to Allah. Unlike those pigeons relishing their freedom over the teeming metropolis, Dr Khan is to recuperate and live in custody, which has been his fate since the winter of 2004.

It's an irony Pakistanis can ponder over later. For the moment, they are all relieved.

The following day, all newspapers carried a photograph of Dr Khan, smiling but looking palpably weak. The public last saw him in February 2004, when he appeared on television to confess and apologise for his role in nuclear proliferation. He subsequently disappeared behind the boundary wall of his plush residence in the spiffy area of Islamabad, under what the military establishment euphemistically called 'protective custody'. The security cordon erected around the house was impregnable. No one could meet him. Giving him company was his wife Henny. Even his daughters' visits were regulated.

In confinement Khan lived, as the fallen hero. Yet they couldn't banish him from the Pakistani heart.

When the Musharraf government announced early August that Dr Khan was suffering from prostate cancer, in Islamabad the fibreglass replica of the Chagai mountains, where the 1998 nuclear tests were conducted, was inundated under flowers that ordinary Pakistanis brought in. And to think, for too long it had been considered politically incorrect to be seen around the site. The overwhelming response prompted the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q) leaders to make a beeline for the residence of Khan, hitherto treated as a pariah. Prime minister Shaukat Aziz sent in a bouquet and his wishes, before Dr Khan was flown out to Karachi for operation. His cabinet offered prayers for his speedy recovery.

The Opposition, too, got into the act: the PML (Nawaz), under whose government the nuclear test was conducted, moved the court for Khan's release, besides demanding the best possible treatment for him. Opposition members in the National Assembly openly expressed fears that the establishment wanted to either poison or kill Khan on the operation table. English newspaper The Nation commented, "The government should ponder the long-term harm that his so-called protective custody is doing to the very cause that inspired Dr Khan to put his shoulder to the wheel to achieve the country's most cherished goal in the face of stringent global sanctions. It is time to set him free and provide proper security so that he can enjoy his life that the oppressive confinement within the four walls of the house is denying him."

The outpouring of support for Khan underlines the profound truth: it's sacriligeous to tarnish a cherished symbol of the nation.

Khan is Pakistan's living symbol—of its strength and security, of its technological achievements, of its myriad quests. No less than Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said after Khan confessed to his guilt in 2004: "He's my hero." In a recent interview, Musharraf said he feels embarrassed every time fresh information is furnished about Khan's culpability in nuclear proliferation and he has to be confronted for corroboration.

But this outpouring of support could also be interpreted as the ordinary Pakistani's contempt for America's concerns about nuclear proliferation. There's also the issue of law. As Dr Shireen Mazari, chairperson of the Institute of Strategic Studies, told Outlook, "Which law has Dr A.Q. Khan broken other than the anti-corruption law while making money as a government officer? Has he compromised any international treaty obligations? No. Pakistan has not signed the NPT nor is it a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. In fact, many Europeans have broken laws since their own countries are signatories to the NPT and are members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group."

Another reason for support for Khan could be that few here believe that he didn't have the establishment's support for proliferation. As Farhatullah Babar, spokesperson for the Pakistan People's Party, told Outlook, "Khan could not have possibly acted alone. It is unfair to single him out and make him a scapegoat. This issue will resurrect time and again in the absence of a bipartisan probe." When the proliferation scandal was made public, Babar says the PPP had demanded a bi-partisan probe in the National Assembly. "We moved an adjournment motion and several resolutions on the issue. But, unfortunately, these were never accepted by the Speaker. We could not debate the matter," he adds.

The overwhelming public sympathy for Khan underlines that no matter what pressure the US brings upon Pakistan, Musharraf can't be handed over to Washington for questioning. This is one U-turn Musharraf can't survive, such is Khan's popularity. Even in protective custody he towers over the other leaders. As the man in the Pakistani street will tell you: "Whatever excesses Dr Khan may have committed, Pakistan should be grateful to all its scientists, including Dr Khan, for making the country a nuclear power. It's because of this capability that we, unlike other Muslim states, cannot be pushed around."