The Trial of a Nation

Urs Truly,

Whether AQKhan stole the technology or replicated it back in Pakistan through his own genuis that he obtained in sixteen days at Urenco, or whether he is being eulogized by people as the self-styled father of the bomb, he is not the father of the bomb, let alone the nuclear program. To call him that is outrageously stupid and non-sensical, notwithstanding the volume of propaganda he managed to heap on the nuclear-ignorant people of Pakistan through his paid propaganda writers.

Now, Pakistan`s nuclear program began in 1956 with the establishment of the PAEC. In the 1960s, two important milestones were achieved which provided the technical basis of a basic civilian nuclear program infrastructure, namely, the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) with its two atomic research reactors, (PARR-1 & 2) and KANUPP. This was done in the tenure of Dr. I.H.Usmani as PAEC Chairman from 1960-71.

The nuclear weapons program was initiated on January 20th, 1972 at the Multan Conference where a nuclear engineer, having specialized in nuclear engineering from the Argonne National Laboratories in the U.S, Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan was appointed head of the nuclear program and PAEC Chairman. Munir had served with distinction as Head of Nuclear Reactor Engineering Division at the IAEA from 1958-1971, being the only Pakistani, and the first Asian to serve on the staff at the IAEA. Munir was involved in the establishment of nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes in all countries at that time under the US. Atoms for Peace Program, and had vast technological, managerial and scientific experience by virtue of his position at the IAEA and had cultivated vast international contacts there. When he was appointed PAEC Chairman, he was the best choice for Pakistan, whereas A.Q.Khan had only completed his PhD in Physcial metallurgy in 1972. He did not have any scientific, research, managerial or technical experience because he was a middle level technician-cum-metallurgist employed by FDO. His sixteen day stint with the centrifuge documents does not qualify him to be the father of the nuclear program, because the program had begun long before his arrival in Pakistan.

A.Q.Khan was not involved in the initiation or establishment of the PAEC or any of its projects.

He was not involved in Giving Pakistan complete mastery over the nuclear fuel cycle, which is the basis of any sustainable nuclear program, which Iran is still struggling with, and AQKhan`s help has not been able to enable Iran complete the fuel cycle. The nuclear fuel cycle is the PAEC`s singular accomplishment under Munir Ahmad Khan.

AQKhan did not start the Kahuta uranium enrichment project. It was started in 1974 by Munir Ahmad Khan with Bashiruddin Mahmood as project incharge of code name project-706 of the PAEC. The PAEC had begun extensive Research and Development with Italian Centrifuge Designs as early as 1975 when the first pilot scale centrifuge plant was successfully run at Sihala. The drawings that A.Q.Khan brought from Urenco were of First generation centrifuge machines, which were so low in efficiency that they could not have produced the required levels of enriched uranium. Therefore his input was only a small portion of the enrichment effort. The PAEC had on its own established a surreptitious nuclear suppliers network in Europe with the brilliant S.A.Butt as the man incharge of procurement who reported directly to Munir Ahmad Khan, who enabled PAEC to acquire and develop the balancing rotors used in centrifuges, the mass spectrometers and the high frequency inverters used to supply power to the centrifuges. Centrifuge is just one link in a long chain of enrichment technology. It is a small part of the enrichment process, let alone the nuclear program as a whole.

Munir Ahmad Khan had acquired maraging steel in 1975-6 worth Rs. 50 million which is used in the development of centrifuges and their cascades.

It was the PAEC that produced the uranium hexafloride gas or UF6 at is plant at D.G.Khan, which is the crucial raw material and Feed for enrichment, without which the centrifuges would be useless. It is this UF6 gas which is enriched to weapon grade through the gas-centrifuges at Kahuta. This plant was begun and completed long before AQKhan came on the scene.

The enriched uranium would be useless without developing a workable nuclear bomb design, its triggerring mechanism and implosion techniques in addition to cold testing and hot testing facilities. The PAEC began work on this in March 1974 and the first bomb design was ready by 1978. AQKhan did not come up with any workable design which also failed cold tests.

Munir Khan conducted the first cold tests on March 11, 1983 and completed the Chaghi test sites by 1980.

Plutonium is another route to nuclear weapons. The PAEC had completed its own reprocessing plant at PINSTECH called New Labs by 1981 which gave Pakistan the ability to produce enough plutonium for atleast one bomb a year. The PAEC conducted over 24 cold tests between 1983 and 1990, during which plutonium weapons may also have been tested.

The Khushab heavy water plutonium production reactor was inititated by Munir Khan in 1985 which is now commissioned and has given Pakistan the ability to produce enough plutonium for many bombs and tritium which is used to boost fission devices. This was despite sanctions and despite the French backstabbing the Chashma contract.

After the Canadians put sanctions on KANUPP in the wake of the Indian test of 1974, the PAEC scientists and engineers developed the spare parts and nuclear fuel for KANUPP indeginously. AQKhan had nothing to do with any of this.

Munir also established the Centre for Nuclear Studies in 1975, before AQKhan came to Pakistan, and CNS provided over 5000 nuclear scientists, engineers to the nuclear program, inclucing KRL,when the world had closed its doors to Pakistani scientists. today CNS is a university called PIEAS.

So when A.Q.Khan had no role in any of the above mentioned achivements, which were all accomplished during Munir Khan`s tenure as PAEC Chairman from 1972-1991, then how is AQKhan the father of the nuclear program? He was never even head of the program, as he never was the PAEC Chairman.


Regards.

Re: # 139 Rommel

As I said earlier, the purpose of this article is not to compare the contribution of different scientists to the development of our nuclear program. I have said it earlier that I would kiss the feet of sweepers who cleaned the streets of KRL; I salute Dr. Munir, Dr. Bashiruddin, Dr. Samar and countless other unsung heroes as well.

But truth of the matter is that Western neo-colonial powers want the head of none other but Dr. AQK on a platter; all the propogandists, eastern or western, slander him and only him not from today but since decades; its the name of AQK who strikes fear in the hearts of infidels, hindus, and other miscelleneous nutjobs; it is the AQK who is the target for slander by the fifth columnists who live among us pretending to be Pakistanis; it is AQK and not someone else who is humilited by this anti-Pakistani and anti-Muslim dictatorial regime. And it is the AQK who has been humiliated by the corrupt and spineless ruling class.

They don`t want some DR. Allahditta, they want AQK. So what does it tell you?

re: 104
the opinions of arabs should not matter to us. baigharat, backstabing little buggers that they are.

re: 102
``What`s your point re Pakistan`s nuclear weapons? (Please be brief and succinct.)``

be brief & succinct after spending so much time on wiki becoming an expert on nuclear physics in general
and nuclear weapons in particular? now that`s asking AlephLull too much. be nice to him - it is hard for AlephLull to see his genius scientists and government begging the u.s. congress for technology they could`nt develop on their own.

re: 77 (hp)

hp, munir ahmed did`nt have a phd (if i remember correctly) - here are a couple of articles on him which
are fairly decent and were published on chowk:

http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00000573&channel=university%20ave&threshold=1&layout=0&order=0&start=0&end=9&page=1 http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00003421&channel=civic%20center&threshold=1&layout=0&order=0&start=0&end=9&page=1#32

pakistan atomic energy commission comprised of four members - chairman, member finance, member
weapons and one other title which i can`t remember. when the chairman retired it was almost certain that the
member weapons would become the next chairman. krl and aq khan were involved with uranium enrichment
initially but later were competing with paec on the weapons design - a competition that they lost - and the paec
member weapons at that time was samar mubarakmand. if anyone was paying attention at that time, he/she
would have noticed samar mubarakmand`s irritation at aq khan stealing his show. aq khan on the other hand
thrives on taking credit for things he did`nt do.

re: 71

urstruly, whether he stole the technology or not, does`nt matter - he probably did`nt -
and you are right - it is hard to believe that he ran that circus without the knowledge of people in power.
since pakistan is not a signatory to npt, what he did was not criminal, it was just plain stupid.

Re: # 138

r.a.janjua

``What`s your point re Pakistan`s nuclear weapons? (Please be brief and succinct.)...that`s asking AlephLull too much.``

This self-proclaimed genius, aptly named Anull, runs when cornered. I expected that from him. However, in a moment of candor he declared in his post #99: ``The brief answer is that I have absolutely no idea.``

re:#134 by faisaluno
While Pak may have acquired nuclear technology by ``hook or crook``, that technology is not considered safe in Paki hands. Pak has shown that it is an indiscriminate proliferator. It has had dealings with N.Korea, Iran, Libya. Mushy`s argument that it was all done by one single person A.Q.Khan and that he or the Army had no personal knowledge of it does not cut ice with the strategic thinkers. Mushy is needed today, so he is being tolerated.
However, there is real fear that Pak`s nuclear arms may fall into wrong hands once Mushy goes away (or is eliminated) and a terrorist takes over, as the following article implies:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_7-10-2004_pg7_6
(A new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) on nuclear terrorism said, “The fear regarding Pakistan is that some members of the armed forces might covertly give a weapon to terrorists or that, if President Musharraf were overthrown, an Islamic fundamentalist government or a state of chaos in Pakistan might enable terrorists to obtain a weapon.” While, the report concedes, it would be difficult for terrorists to mount a nuclear attack on a US city, such an attack is plausible and would have catastrophic consequences, in one scenario killing over a half-million people and causing damage of over $1 trillion. “Terrorists or rogue states might acquire a nuclear weapon in several ways. The nations of greatest concern as potential sources of weapons or fissile materials are widely thought to be Russia and Pakistan.”)
In such a scenario, contingency plans are in place to take over the nuclear reactors in Pak by a combined US-Israeli commando units that have trained for this eventuality for sometime now. US is already there in Pak, so this possibility is very real. Pak is safe as long as Mushy boy is in control and does US tells him to do.
Sridhar

rsridhar:

Re: # 135

There is another strong opinion in US establishment. Just like Pakistan helped the USA against USSR in Afghanistan leading to its division, it now wants Pakistan in the same way against Iran. Furthermore, USA and Israel want to have a friendly relationship with Pakistan so that in future Pakistan could also be used to assist the USA to disintegrate India. The disintegration of India is an issue that has been discussed historically in the US congress. The US-India military exercises were also undertaken so that US could familiarise itself with Indian capabilities for a possible showdown in future. Previously conspicuous by their absence in India, American CIA is firmly entrenched in there.

There are two questions that you should ask yourself:

1. Why would the USA like to help India become a superpower knowing fully well that it is going to be another competitor (non-white this time) like China, France and Russia can be for scarce resources.

2. Optimistically speaking, if USA wants to develop India as a check against China, then certainly it would like to have Pakistan as a check against India. Surely, the US has also noticed the political weight Pakistan carries through the role that we played in the reformation of the UN through the support of countries that we did not have any relations with till now, the support that we enjoy in the Muslim countries, in the ASEAN, etc. Even Australia that had no relations with us till now has executed trade agrements because of the minerals they found Kashmiri soil exposed during the recent earthquake.

Therefore, by posting such posts as # 135, you can continue to masterb#te with pleasant self satisfying thoughts, I will seriously advise you that doctors have warned that during the process of mas****ation, one has a very high probability of having a heart failure, especially in the older age. I would suggest you caution.

people who played a role in pak`s nuclear program deserve our thanks because the capability to successfully deter external aggression was necessary for pak`s progress. and since that has now been achieved, its time to move on, to shift focus to other important areas for a man cannot live by security alone. man also needs food, water, shelter, health care, job etc for survival. by this measurement, the performance of pakistanis has been well below par especially when measured against that achieved by people in s.e. asia.

there are signs however that things are turning around on the economic front and people driving the turn around deserve the same recognition accorded to nuclear scientists. in fact i would argue that on a day-to-day basis, the actions of governor of state bank of pak (sbp) have a far more impact on the lives of ordinary pakistanis than the work of nuclear scientists. in this respect, the recently retired governor of sbp has done an absolutely stellar job. check out the performance of rupee under his tenure vs the performance of the rupee in the 1st six years of decade of democracy - from 1990 to 1999.

pkr under ishrat hussain. note that it takes about two years for the impact of policy to filter through:



pkr under decade of democracy. note that pkr had lost 60% of its value in the first 6 years of the last decade although real damage came much later. in comparison rupee lost around 7-8% of its value this decade. however all the depreciation that took place this decade was in the first two years.



there is also some more good news ahead. the new governor of sbp also has a stellar reputation and will bring a no nonsense approach to her job. she is also like qadeer khan, a true son of the soil who made her reputation abroad. she is also a khatoon although this is immaterial in my opinion. she can howver be a good role model provided she gets due attention from the media like qadeer khan has received.

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/

ISLAMABAD: For the first time in country`s history, a woman economist, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, with entire experience of development banking was appointed Governor State Bank of Pakistan for a three-year term.

...She has been involved in the restructuring process of banks in the East Asian economies and has interacted regularly with Bank of International Settlement on Basel Standards. Dr Akhtar worked with the World Bank for 10 years, before joining Asian Development Bank in 1990, where she was holding the top position, overseeing Bank`s operations in a number of countries.

...She hails form rural Sindh and is the first woman to be appointed Governor State Bank of Pakistan, the statement added.

#88 Malik

Yes it is true that what really matters is that Pakisatn has what 191 countries of the world don`t. But the matter is not that simple. The truth of the matter is that there is an ideological war underway. It is a war between the Islam, which has emerged as the last hope for mankind to establish a rule of equality and justice among nations and on the other side is the kuffar which thrives on the inequity and injustice in the world. Propaganda is an essential part of this war. One essential part of this prapaganda is to discredit the icons and ideals of each other. While truth is on our side, as their lies expose themselves by no one else but by their own people everyday, it is important that we stick to the truth. This is our strength that they can never take away. Someone has to tell that truth because it is important to boost morale in our ranks. That is the reason this article was written.

#130 by faisaluno on December 3, 2005 7:11am PT

You mean diseases like congo haemorrhagic fever?

when are indians going to start acting like a civilised nation? the thread of them spreading disease is pretty serious.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:J7AtyBpPWOQJ:www.mid-day.com/columns/dilip_dsouza/2005/november/123876.htm+%22Thinking+out+of+the+pot%22&hl=en

Ajit Pawar has got it right. We have a big problem in this country that he has decided to tackle: something over two-thirds of us Indians have no access to reasonable sanitation.

This is a public hygiene issue, because what it means is that two-thirds of us lack toilets in our homes, and so must use the great outdoors for our morning ablutions and defecations.
Our evening ones too, naturally.

...That is, please dream up innovative solutions. Because through nearly six decades of Indian Independence, we have not been able to address this problem with any great success: two-thirds of us toilet-less after all that time is, by any standards, pitiful. So don’t come up with stale, boring answers like “build public toilets”, or “build private toilets”, or “promote constipation as a lifestyle choice” or even “ban defecation”

#104 by faisaluno on December 2, 2005 4:59pm PT

the citizens of the Organization of Irrelevant Camel-jockeys countries think France and Pakiland should be a super-power? That`s almost as pathetic as saying the KSE is the best performing index when no foreign fund with it`s salt is investing in it....

Morality at the level of nations has no meaning. You have Bomb now, worry about its safety. Soon it will be realized that keeping bombs is more expensive than making them.

Salam,




PAKISTAN IN 1976 TOLD THE NETHERLANDS IT HAD ITALIAN CENTRIFUGE DESIGN

Nucleonics Week
Sept-2005


Munir Ahmad Khan, then chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), told Dutch officials in mid-1976 that Pakistan had ``no interest`` in developing gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment, according to Dutch government dossiers related to its investigation of the theft of Urenco`s centrifuge design information by Pakistan.

Khan confirmed that Pakistan had done some development work on gas centrifuges, but asserted that the effort was limited to a small number of centrifuges and a cascade design obtained from Italy.

The dossiers spell out that the Netherlands` intelligence agency, the Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst (BVD), learned in 1975 that Abdul Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani metallurgist—unrelated to Munir Khan—might have misappropriated confidential or secret Urenco data and provided it to Pakistani government procurement agents working out of the Pakistan embassy in Belgium.

The files provide information about the A.Q. Khan investigation beyond what was declassified by the Netherlands government earlier this year. Declassified documents referred to actions by the Dutch administration beginning in 1978 (NuclearFuel, 1 Aug., 5).

Suspicions that A.Q. Khan was involved in a diversion of centrifuge know-how were first raised by Khan`s employer, Fysisch-Dynamisch Onderzoek (FDO), a laboratory which was a subcontractor of Ultracentrifuge Nederland (UCN). UCN was at that time the Dutch partner firm in the trilateral Urenco enrichment enterprise.

According to Dutch diplomatic sources close to the Urenco program at that time, Khan was hired by FDO in 1972 because UCN was gearing up to shift its centrifuge program from a Dutch model to a German model, based on a decision made by the Urenco partnership and approved by the Netherlands government. The sources said that not enough Dutch nationals could be found to staff up FDO in a hurry.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, UCN had developed a supercritical centrifuge using aluminum rotor tubes called Commercial Nuclear Obreptitious Rotor (CNOR). According to documents, UCN terminated the CNOR program in October 1974. UCN prepared to build the German steel centrifuge called G-2 instead, they said.

To set up G-2, UCN obtained classified engineering reports about the G-2 centrifuge from Centec, a Urenco centrifuge technology development agency in Germany, and from the firm Machinenfabrik Augsburg-Nuremberg AG (MAN), then a partner in the German centrifuge development and construction effort. Khan was assigned the task of translating these documents from German into Dutch.

In 1975, FDO personnel became suspicious of Khan, after a French firm, Metalimphy, was tasked by Pakistan`s embassy in Belgium to obtain specialized wrapping foil based on a technical report that appeared to belong to UCN. As a precaution, the French firm showed the report to UCN officials, who confirmed it was a confidential document that had been misappropriated from the company.

Since UCN had never provided any information from its centrifuge program to Pakistan`s embassy in Brussels, the company quickly focused its attention on Khan, a Pakistani national, in its attempt to locate the source of the leak. It was believed possible that Khan could have obtained the report in question and that he could have provided it to Pakistani government agents. As of October 1975, documents suggest, FDO had contacted Dutch intelligence about its concerns.

About a year later, in September 1976, FDO officials held a discussion with PAEC head Munir Khan. Dutch experts sought to confirm their suspicions that Pakistan had been tapping the UCN program for a secret centrifuge development program.

Munir Khan was appointed PAEC chairman by then-prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1972. Two years later, when India set off its first nuclear test, he presided over a meeting of Pakistani scientists and government officials in Multan to discuss how Pakistan should respond to the perceived Indian threat. In July 1976—two months before he met with Dutch experts—Munir Khan fell out with A.Q. Khan over the direction of Pakistan`s autonomous nuclear development, leaving A.Q. Khan in charge of Pakistan`s uranium enrichment effort, according to media reports in Pakistan. The PAEC under Munir Khan continued to develop plutonium production.

But Munir Khan brushed off Dutch concerns that Pakistan was trying to steal Urenco`s technology. He said Pakistan had ``no interest`` in developing gas centrifuge technology for a future uranium enrichment program.


The PAEC head, Munir Khan, did acknowledge that the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology (Pinstech) in Rawalpindi had carried out an exploratory centrifuge investigation, and had set up between 10 and 20 centrifuges in a laboratory. But according to Munir Khan, Pinstech`s centrifuge effort was based on centrifuge and cascade design information obtained from Italy—not from the Urenco program.

The record of questions about A.Q. Khan by top officials at Khan`s employer FDO beginning in 1975, registered in Dutch internal files, contrasts with statements made by ministry staffers in documents that were declassified earlier this year. The declassified files suggest a very different reaction to assertions by a U.K. lawmaker in 1978 and media accounts beginning in 1979 that Urenco security could have been compromised. The declassified files say the Dutch government considered it improbable that Khan could have seriously challenged the security of the Urenco program and that Khan had little access to secret centrifuge design information.

Beginning in 1979, staffers in the Netherlands ministries of Economic Affairs and Foreign Affairs engaged in damage control to play down allegations about Khan in public and in parliament. Records show that personnel in the Dutch embassy in Islamabad at this time discussed Pakistan`s nuclear program with Pakistani officials. The Pakistanis—mirroring Munir Khan`s claims—told Dutch diplomats that Pakistan`s centrifuge program was a low priority or at a very early stage, and that there was no military component to it.

That message may have served the purpose of bureaucrats in The Hague to put out the fire of speculation in the media and parliament about Khan`s contribution to a nuclear weapons program in Pakistan. But one cable from the Netherlands` embassy in Pakistan to headquarters in The Hague suggested that embassy staffers were highly skeptical of Pakistan`s assertions that its nuclear program was peaceful.

Western officials said last month that it would have been possible for Pakistan to have obtained centrifuge design know-how from a pilot centrifuge development program in Italy at that time, which was centered on work carried out by Italian industry and government-sponsored laboratories.

Western officials said that Italy began centrifuge research and development in 1969, and by 1973 had done some separation work using a relatively simple, so-called Zippe-type centrifuge. This type was pioneered after World War II by the German engineer Gernot Zippe, and provided the engineering and physics bases for both Italian and Urenco machines.

Italy developed and tested a second generation centrifuge on a lab scale by 1975, officials said. At about the same time, Italian scientists were doing work on a different, block-mounted centrifuge and had begun to experiment with more advanced rotor tubes made of carbon fiber. By around 1978, the Italian program had designed a small uranium enrichment plant.

Then, however, Italy dropped its centrifuge program and shifted its interest toward gaseous diffusion, in parallel with Italy`s membership in the Eurodif consortium. Officials said that the IAEA has since verified that Italy is no longer pursuing any research in the field of centrifuge uranium enrichment.

Munir Ahmad Khan died in 1999.

Regards.

Re: # 124 Rommel

So at least the essay that you have posted from Week Nucleonics, do corroborate the account of legal battle as narrated by S.M. Zafar. The verbiage is the matter of opinion and on what side you are on - atleast the events are verified.

Apart from that, logically, if AQK is a below avarage metallusrgist then he should not have enough intelligence to steal or comprehend a complex centrifuge technology in sixteen days while most of his day must spent translating certain documents which he was charged with. Conversely, if he is a man of extraordinary intelligence and he did comprehend the centrifuge technology somehow in sixteen days or did figure out exactly what to steel, then it does make him the father of nuclear program in Pakistan.

Its a general perception... that AQ Khan has taken all the blame on himself in the wider interest of Pakistan..

kaalchakra #: ``Information about China as the source of a fool-proof blueprint for a nuclear weapon came from American records. It seems Americans obtained a copy of exactly the same Chinese blueprint that Pakistan had, and then confronted Pakistan with it at the highest levels.``

I am not too sure how much China has been involved. I don`t think China`s own technology is that advanced. Or at least wasn`t when Pakistan was developing nukes. The three countries with truly sophisticated nuclear weapons and launch capabilities are USA, Russia and Israel. Do read up on Israel`s capabilities if you get a chance. They are truly amazing. Albeit with a lot of help from the USA. But way ahead of Pakistan and India........

Kahuta is protected like a precious diamond. This I know of personally.......

Everything else is heresay. One would have had to have been involved in the real project, to know who did what. My acquitance is quite reliable however. He was involved in funding the front companies as a banker, covering the Middle East. I believe BCCI helped a lot also.

If you read the main article in Time Magazine, from a few years ago, with the picture of AQ Khan on the cover, you will notice a detailed mention of a young Sri Lankan Muslim in Dubai. He has been caught and was apparently AQ`s partner in business. This guy used to run a computer business, amongst other things.

I am quite sure Pakistan did not get the detailed advanced nuclear technology from China. China would never give it away like that. In addition, if Pakistan was getting it from China, then why set up all these front companies in Dubai and Europe and what not. There was a Pakistani caught in the USA, as well.

The acquisition of nukes for Pakistan is truly a fast-paced mystery novel. Pakistan got them, after there were huge restrictions on acquiring nukes. It is the only country that has been able to do so. India did most of its work, before then. And Israel had access to the USA. Pakistan had nothing. Yet it stayed one step ahead of the game. Keeping the whole world guessing.

I wouldn`t be surprised if it were European scientists that helped out. I think by 84, Pakistan had the bomb. AQ Khan was definitely involved. But he is a mettalurgist. There is no way he could have developed the bomb. That was done by a whole group of scientists, who deserve a lot of credit. The fact that they remained underground, and to this day, no one knows who they are, is an even bigger credit to them.......

AQ Khan got too much into the limelight. That is not how real heroes should behave. And he openly came on air to admit he did some dealings on his own. Which was a huge let-down for Pakistan. At the same time, Pakistan has broken no int`l law, neither has AQ Khan. He has broken Pakistani law...........

AQ Khan was a hero for the right reasons. And he is now a pardoned criminal for the right reasons also. But he has been turned into a far bigger hero than he deserves to be. He lives in sector E-7 in Islamabad. He has always had a lot of security around his house. Interestingly, almost right next to him, is another very senior nuclear scientist. We used to live in the area and knew this scientist. The most down to earth man you will ever see. Those are the true heroes............