Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy Letter to Daily Times:

Pak-Israel relations

Sir: It is great news that the Israeli Agriculture Minister, Yisrael Katz, is planning to visit Pakistan. Israel is a reality that Pakistan must accept, and I am glad that the Pakistan government has finally realised that Israel is too important a country to be ignored any longer.

Pakistan can benefit greatly by forging ties with Israel, in particular in the economic and scientific sectors. Improving its relations with Pakistan is also important for the government of Israel since Pakistan is the world’s second largest Muslim country and it would help Israel if it could establish relation with Pakistan.

The government of Pakistan must start preparing its people for the recognition of Israel (which hopefully will be soon). The people of Pakistan must be convinced that friendship with Israel is in Pakistan’s best interests and that this will not affect our stand on a state for the Palestinians. At the same time, Pakistan must tread this path carefully, not antagonising important Arab countries like Saudi Arabia. Pakistan will also have to take into account Iran’s reaction to this development.

With skilful diplomacy, Pakistan can retain the friendship of Arab countries (including the Palestinian Authority) while forging ties with Israel.
TAIMUR MASUD KHAN
USA

History, Culture and the Mullahs Yasser, are you an Aitchisonian?

-Proud Aitchisonian.

The Nuclear Noose Around Pakistan’s Neck Letter to Daily Times, 02/07/04:

Damage control

Sir: The recent disclosures about A.Q Khan’s nuclear proliferation have created a serious situation. Pakistan will be under severe pressure in the coming weeks and months. The demands will range from permitting international inspections to perhaps a rollback of the nuclear programme. But Pakistan has simply invested too much in the programme to abandon it at this juncture.

President Pervez Musharraf should be cognisant of the international community’s scepticism of Pakistan’s official position regarding this issue. Keeping in mind the seriousness of the charges, President Musharraf and the army must conceive of a comprehensive plan to mollify the concerns of the international community and convince them of the security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets. This is both in the interest of the army as well as Pakistan.

More worrying is the reaction in Pakistan, where a majority thinks the entire episode is some sort of a cover-up by the Pakistan Army to hide its own involvement in the affair. This growing schism between the Pakistan Army and the people does not bode well for the future and can have dire consequences if nothing is done to arrest this trend.

It is in Pakistan’s interest to end this issue as soon as possible. However, a story such as this will not end easily and events like AQ Khan’s controversial pardon and confession will only lead to more speculation. President Musharraf would do well to be a bit more forthcoming about the role of security agency officials who worked at KRL.

In the end, while it is important to reassure the international community, it is even more important to win over the trust of the people of Pakistan.
TAIMUR MASUD KHAN
USA

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy US media slams Pakistan for ‘nuclear whitewash’

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Three leading US newspapers on Friday castigated Pakistan for “errant nuclear behaviour” and called for strict monitoring of its nuclear programme and activities.

The Washington Post ran a second lead editorial after a hard-hitting one on Thursday saying the attempt by President Pervez Musharraf to “whitewash his country’s marketing of nuclear weapons technology to rogue dictatorships and sponsors of terrorism comes as no surprise”.

Employing language generally not expected of serious newspapers, the normally staid Post observed that “the General and his government have been lying for years about the illegal traffic. Now that their cover has been blown by evidence supplied to the United Nations by Libya and Iran, they are attempting to pin all the blame on a single scientist while stonewalling any international investigation.”

Another hard-hitting editorial in the Christian Science Monitor entitled ‘A Pardoned Proliferator’ said selling nuclear-weapons technology on the black market should be a crime against humanity, adding, “but not in Pakistan, where first it can get you rich and then, after you’re caught by foreigners, a slap on the wrist and a presidential pardon”.

The newspaper wrote that Dr Khan has “gotten off easy” because he appeared ready to implicate either former or current Pakistani military officers who helped him or knew of his “heinous enterprise”.

Referring to Dr Khan’s statement that he had “much to answer for,” the editorial quipped, “Indeed. And why is this personal act of nuclear proliferation being so quickly brushed under a dirty rug? Because the United States needs the goodwill of the Musharraf government and the Pakistani military in the continuing fight against Al Qaeda and in stabilising post-Taliban Afghanistan.”

The Monitor, referring to President Bush’s request to Congress to provide a $3 billion aid package for Pakistan as a favour for its help in the US-led war on terror, called it a “mess,” adding that “Pakistan has now both helped and hindered terrorism. But any of those countries could resell the technology. Both the US and the IAEA confronted Pakistan last year with evidence that nuclear hardware and expertise had been given to Iran and North Korea, after years of suspecting Pakistan was a likely source. The US should insist that Pakistan agree to international agreements on nuclear programmes and submit to inspections. Nuclear proliferation is too serious to not have Pakistan make amends for this global tragedy. Mr Musharraf, too, must answer to the world, and show how his country’s nuclear experts will act differently.”

A leader page article in the Washington Times by Arnaud de Borchgrave called Dr Khan “a criminal proliferator of nuclear secrets”. He said Gen Musharraf is still reluctant to concede that his country’s controversial Inter-Services Intelligence agency knew about it.

Wrote Borchgrave, a veteran Pakistan-watcher, “After Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi decided last month to dismantle his embryonic nuclear weapons programme under international inspection, AQK’s assistance could no longer be denied. AQK and his nuclear scientists had given Libya the wherewithal, originally stolen from the plant where Dr Khan worked in the Netherlands in the 1970s, to manufacture the centrifuge technology needed to refine uranium to weapons-grade quality.”

He wrote that the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) was so secret even civilian prime ministers were not allowed to visit the installations and that KRL was under the strict control and supervision of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. He charged the ISI with complicity in proliferation.

According to the writer, Dr Khan’s motivation was both ideological and material. He is said to have loathed the US since it began “punishing” Pakistan for its secret quest to acquire a nuclear arsenal.

Mr Borchgrave wrote that Gen Beg and Gen Hamid Gul are close to Dr Khan and believed to have been aware of his “self-appointed mission to proliferate nuclear weapons knowledge to America’s enemies”.

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy Daily Times, opinion, 02/07/04:

Op-ed: The nuclear controversy and damage control —Abbas Rashid

This is not a time for point scoring and the issue has to be seen in a national context. But, aside from the demand for across-the-board accountability extending to the military, this may be a good time for the president to rethink his decision to exclude the mainstream parties from office and power

The last few weeks have seen some dramatic and unsetttling developments regarding Pakistan and the proliferation issue. In particular, there was the confession read out on the state media by Dr A Q Khan, a man widely regarded as the father of Pakistan’s A-bomb and held therefore in great esteem within the country. This was preceded by his televised meeting with President Pervez Musharraf, in which Mr Khan appeared as a supplicant to the grim-looking president.

Mr Khan’s case was referred by the National Command Authority to the Cabinet, which recommended a presidential pardon. During a press conference on Thursday the president announced that he had decided to accept the recommendation and pardon Dr Khan.

The ball had been set rolling a few weeks earlier when towards the end of last year Mr Mohamed El Baradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), sent a letter seeking information from Pakistan in the context of a nuclear proliferation trail that had been picked up as a result of IAEA’s scrutiny of Iran’s nuclear programme. Obviously the evidence presented to the government left it with few options other than seriously investigating possible proliferation channels leading out from Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Some of Pakistan’s top nuclear scientists associated with the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) including Dr A Q Khan were investigated and the sequence led up to Dr Khan’s mea culpa on state media.

The well-choreographed exercise obviously sought a closure to what is an extremely difficult issue for the government. In his statement, Dr Khan while emphasising that he acted in ‘good faith’ took full responsibility for whatever proliferation took place under his charge. In doing so he absolved others, particularly the military, of any complicity. The presidential pardon that many see as a quid pro quo means that he will not be called to account and there will be no potentially embarrassing trial with other names being named.

For its part the US has made it clear that it will, for the moment, continue to accept the way in which the president has proceeded to handle this issue. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in a statement Wednesday said that President Musharraf ‘is the right man at the right time in the leadership of Pakistan.’ A State department spokesman elaborated that “...the process of investigation that has been undertaken by the Pakistani government does, indeed, demonstrate that President Musharraf and the government of Pakistan take seriously their commitment, their assurances, that they were not going to allow their technology to be used to help other nations that might be trying to develop weapons of mass destruction...”

On the face of it there appears no major pressure from the US for now to expand the arena of investigations, formally, to include others that may have been involved in proliferation-related activity. In a way then the circle could be deemed closed. But not quite, as is made clear by the IAEA head, Al Baradei’s statement on Thursday: “... Dr Khan is the tip of the iceberg for us.”.Mr Baradei added, “...he [Dr Khan] was not working alone” and that “we need to follow this through — we need to know who was producing centrifuges.”

This probably is a reference to individuals or facilities in Europe and elsewhere that are part of the nuclear underworld. We don’t know, therefore, what evidence may be unearthed as a part of these investigations and whether any of it could be linked back to Pakistan and to whom. But, clearly Pakistan will have to proceed with caution. It may not find it a simple task to move away from under this uncomfortable spotlight in the months to come.

Notwithstanding the show of support by the Bush administration — China has also been quick to signal its support — for the way in which the government has handled the issue, Pakistan has come to be viewed in a certain context with regard to proliferation activities. Consider the February 5, editorial in the influential Washington Post titled ‘Pakistan’s nuclear crimes.’

Arguing that the US or the UN must have the means of ensuring Pakistan’s compliance to its commitment to stop proliferation it says “...the administration must face up to the reality that Pakistan’s military leadership has done more to threaten US and global security with weapons of mass destruction than either al Qaeda or Saddam Hussain.” One may certainly point out that US policies contributed greatly to building up both but the issue at hand is different. For Pakistan, such perceptions represent a serious threat that must be diffused.

The government now faces a dilemma: in order to safeguard the core nuclear programme under these circumstances it must yield to international pressure on some issues, particularly with regard to proliferation which just about heads the list of global nuclear concerns. President Musharraf sought to underline this by saying that Dr A Q Khan was a hero to him as well but where Pakistan’s interests were at stake, the latter came first.

Similarly, while flatly rejecting UN inspections, the president was quick to add that Pakistan was entirely willing to share relevant information with the IAEA. In the months to come, in order to deflect the pressure on the core programme, the government may well need to consider signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The problem is that measures such as action against the scientists, cooperation with the IAEA or a possible signing of the CTBT would be seen as a roll-back of the nuclear programme under US pressure rather than an effort to preserve what is essential to it. The MMA with its strike call on Friday on this issue is leading the drive to portray the government’s actions as a roll back. The mainstream parties will also see this as an issue on which the government is vulnerable.

In his press conference President Musharraf alluded to the gravity of the situation and sought a sober and clear-headed response from all quarters. Indeed, this is not a time for point scoring and the issue has to be seen in a national context. But, aside from the demand for across-the-board accountability extending to the military, this may be a good time for the president to rethink his decision to exclude the mainstream parties from office and power. Their cooperation and support will be needed more than ever before to get through the difficult times ahead.

Abbas Rashid is a freelance journalist and political analyst whose career has included editorial positions in various Pakistani newspapers

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy Opinion in Daily Times, 02/07/04:

Op-ed: All’s well that ends well —Shaukat Qadir

Just as it seemed that Pakistan was involved in an inescapable nuclear imbroglio, we have managed to come out of it almost unscathed. The entire country was accusing the government of Pakistan, and in particular General Pervez Musharraf, of having succumbed to US pressure by interrogating the true icons of the country — our nuclear scientists — who had, given us God’s most sacred gift, the bomb; and of having sold out to the US, with plans to roll back our nuclear programme.

The opposition was all set to take the battle to the streets. Perhaps, on this issue, they might even have found popular support. Almost all segments of society were unanimous in their condemnation of intended punitive actions against those guilty of proliferation. The odd voice of sanity attempting to explain that those guilty of proliferation had, in fact, endangered our nuclear programme did so at its own peril.

There was AQ Khan threatening disclosure of all and sundry, bandying about names of ex-COAS and promising dire consequences. Rumours were rife about his having smuggled out a videocassette with his daughter. She would have made this video, which was said to contain his version of the truth, available to the international media to the great embarrassment of the military establishment of Pakistan. Discussions on TV channels were heated and charged with emotion in support of the poor scientists who were going to be made scapegoats for an activity that could never have taken place without the army’s approval, since they were the real custodians. Every imaginable conspiracy theory was running rife in the streets of Islamabad/Rawalpindi, as they must certainly have been in every corner of the country.

Suddenly everything is at peace again. The greatest icon of the country; Dr AQ Khan himself has come forth. Not only has he confessed, but has stated that he alone was responsible for this act, that all his subordinates had acted on his instructions, that there was no approval from any ex COAS for the proliferation. The trail began and ended with him. He has gone further and publicly addressed the nation, accepting that his acts were errors, against the law and the greater national interests, apologising for embarrassing the government and the nation, and petitioning the president for mercy.

He has even appealed to the people and the politicians to not embarrass him by politicising the issue. Shakespeare himself could not have turned a tragedy into a comedy more effectively. Whoever the author/architect of this drama, he deserves accolades; I did comment in one of my earlier articles that the failures of the intelligence agencies are often quoted, while their successes go unnoticed. Well here is one worthy of attention and praise. It has saved not just the government but also the entire nation of embarrassment.

There is little doubt that after General Ziaul Haq took over, the country’s nuclear programme was firmly under the military’s control. We actually successfully cold-tested our device, I believe, in 1985. Therefore proliferation could only have occurred between then and till as recently as anyone would like to think. Two of the men who held the post of army chief during this period are dead, which leaves four alive including General Pervez Musharraf.

It is also my view that the US would have been much happier if the entire matter had been quietly dealt with, so long as effective safeguards were emplaced to prevent future proliferation. However, Iran and Libya’s disclosures to the IAEA forced the government’s hand into initiating the ‘debriefing’. Otherwise the entire affair would probably have been swept under the carpet with the tacit approval of the US.

However, once the disclosures became public, Musharraf and the government had no option but to pursue the matter in accordance with national and international laws. In the absence of the ‘confession’ of AQ Khan, prosecution would have been an ugly affair. It could not have been possible for the trial to be held in camera and in full view of the public. This would have weakened the present government internally and externally.

But AQ Khan’s decision has obviated the necessity for a trial, where perhaps other names might have cropped up. His unequivocal acceptance of responsibility and appeal for mercy provided a way out for the Musharraf government. Now all those involved can be administered a slap on their wrists, perhaps sent to jail for a short period (of course the time spent there will be relatively luxurious) and there is no need to look any further than AQ Khan.

Personally, I believe that if proliferation actually took place, once that period, or periods, has been established, the COAS of the time, is at least guilty of negligence — the assets were under his personal safe custody. Consequently, he is at the very least culpable for negligence. It is again my personal view that were the regime to pursue this course and take it to its logical conclusion, Musharraf would indeed be the stronger for it. AQ Khan’s statement has taken out most of the wind from the sails of those threatening opposition. In my opinion, he has only now become a national hero. Musharraf could render the opposition totally toothless by allowing the responsibility to fall where it logically should.

The author is a retired brigadier. He is also the ex-founder Vice President of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI)

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy Letter to Daily Times, 02/07/04:

Damage control

Sir: The recent disclosures about A.Q Khan’s nuclear proliferation have created a serious situation. Pakistan will be under severe pressure in the coming weeks and months. The demands will range from permitting international inspections to perhaps a rollback of the nuclear programme. But Pakistan has simply invested too much in the programme to abandon it at this juncture.

President Pervez Musharraf should be cognisant of the international community’s scepticism of Pakistan’s official position regarding this issue. Keeping in mind the seriousness of the charges, President Musharraf and the army must conceive of a comprehensive plan to mollify the concerns of the international community and convince them of the security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets. This is both in the interest of the army as well as Pakistan.

More worrying is the reaction in Pakistan, where a majority thinks the entire episode is some sort of a cover-up by the Pakistan Army to hide its own involvement in the affair. This growing schism between the Pakistan Army and the people does not bode well for the future and can have dire consequences if nothing is done to arrest this trend.

It is in Pakistan’s interest to end this issue as soon as possible. However, a story such as this will not end easily and events like AQ Khan’s controversial pardon and confession will only lead to more speculation. President Musharraf would do well to be a bit more forthcoming about the role of security agency officials who worked at KRL.

In the end, while it is important to reassure the international community, it is even more important to win over the trust of the people of Pakistan.
TAIMUR MASUD KHAN
USA

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy A good editrial in Daily Times, 02/07/04:

EDITORIAL: Lessons of l’affaire proliferation

The nuclear proliferation episode needed to be put to rest as quickly as possible in the national interest and General Pervez Musharraf has mercifully taken the right steps to do just that. This is what we consistently said while this sorry episode was unfolding and this is what we hope will result following Dr A Q Khan’s confessional statement and acceptance of his clemency petition.

General Musharraf was right when he said that the episode endangered Pakistan — on the basis of these charges, Pakistan could potentially face serious consequences at the hands of the United Nations Security Council. He is also right to have chided some retired military generals for shooting off their mouths on sensitive issues that impinge on the country’s national security. He will also be hailed for not allowing any intrusive inspections or rollback of Pakistan’s nuclear programme at the behest of outside agencies or countries. And we appreciate his dilemma when he says that he has done whatever he could to find a middle way and ‘shield’ Dr Khan. But it is difficult not to question some of his other assertions and assumptions or to draw the same conclusions as he has done in other aspects of the matter.

General Musharraf’s attitude towards the civilians in general, and the press and its functions in particular, is becoming increasingly haughty and condescending. His assertion that the media should not have printed foreign articles “damaging to Pakistan” is stretching the point too far. The press in Pakistan, by and large, including this newspaper, exercised much restraint on the story for as long as possible. But this position could not be maintained after the entire western press went after the news, with most stories being datelined Islamabad. Also, there is no tradition anywhere in the free world of silencing the press on a particular issue. For instance, the Bush government cannot ask newspapers in the United States to refrain from publishing stories of its failing in Iraq because in its perception it is against the American national interest. If a government policy goes bad, heads should roll in government and the press cannot be faulted for pointing this out. Equally, General Musharraf’s reference to the Iranian, Libyan and the North Korean press would have extracted a laugh if the matter under discussion were not so serious. Is there a free press in Libya and North Korea? Even in Iran, we know what price journalists have to pay to tell the whole truth. Surely, Mr Musharraf cannot boast of a free press in Pakistan and then demand in the same breath that the Pakistani press should put a voluntary lid on information that the whole world is free to read! If something is known outside Pakistan it is futile to ask or expect the Pakistani media to black it out. The “national interest” does not come into this equation at all.

General Musharraf needs to trace the problem back to the absence of a policymaking process, not the press, in this matter. He came close to it when he dubbed, correctly, some former generals as “pseudo-military philosophers”. May we remind General Musharraf that these gentlemen ran the destiny of this country and a host of specific strategic policies in the “national interest” for a very long time and are born, conditioned and begotten of the same tradition and acculturation as the present top brass in whose ranks General Musharraf must also be counted. May we also remind General Musharraf that he too is no stranger to the Pakistani tradition of formulating unstructured policies and then trying to cover tracks?

We appreciate the efforts General Musharraf has made to put the lid on this cauldron but we expect him to heed the logic of this situation instead of shooting in the wrong direction. Dr Khan said he proliferated in ‘good faith’ but that he erred in his judgement. When policymaking processes are shunned and individuals come to define ‘national interest’ the chances of such errors of judgement tend to become much greater. That is the first and foremost lesson of this episode. The other is that states must not be run on the basis of misplaced ideological zeal because zealotry is the antithesis of cool, calculated and objective assessment. The third, related lesson is that states must not punch above their weight. The fourth lesson is that transparency and accountability always pay off in the end. The fifth lesson is that no one can be allowed to become bigger than state institutions. The sixth lesson is that army chiefs need to understand the limitations of the army itself and how much and to what extent the army is to be allowed to define the national interest.

The press is easy to browbeat, especially when journalists are sitting in a press conference and have been bombarded with allegations of acting against the national interest. So if some people did not take on General Musharraf when he was a little hot under his military collar, they can hardly be blamed. Discretion was obviously the better part of valour that day.

The pressures for change, as General Musharraf knows, are likely to come from outside. Must we always effect changes because of external pressures? Is it possible that we might begin to take indigenous voices seriously rather than trying to silence them? These are the real issues. It’s the message that should be tackled, not the messenger. *

Is Dr. Qadeer Guilty as Accused? Letter to Daily Times, Feb 6th, 2004.

Damage control

Sir: The recent disclosures about A.Q Khan’s nuclear proliferation have created a serious situation. Pakistan will be under severe pressure in the coming weeks and months. The demands will range from permitting international inspections to perhaps a rollback of the nuclear programme. But Pakistan has simply invested too much in the programme to abandon it at this juncture.

President Pervez Musharraf should be cognisant of the international community’s scepticism of Pakistan’s official position regarding this issue. Keeping in mind the seriousness of the charges, President Musharraf and the army must conceive a comprehensive plan to mollify the concerns of the international community and convince them of the security of Pakistan’s nuclear assets. This is both in the interest of the army as well as Pakistan.

More worrying is the reaction in Pakistan, where a majority thinks the entire episode is some sort of a cover-up by the Pakistan Army to hide its own involvement in the affair. This growing schism between the Pakistan Army and the people does not bode well for the future and can have dire consequences if nothing is done to arrest this trend.

It is in Pakistan’s interest to end this issue as soon as possible. However, a story such as this will not end easily and events like AQ Khan’s controversial pardon and confession will only lead to more speculation. President Musharraf would do well to be a bit more forthcoming about the role of security agency officials who worked at KRL.

In the end, while it is important to reassure the international community, it is even more important to win over the trust of the people of Pakistan.
TAIMUR MASUD KHAN
USA

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy Long Live Pakistan Army.

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy Long Live Pakistan

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy Long Live Musharraf

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy This article is a good attempt to look critically at Pakistan`s future options. But this is too one-sided, with Pakistan being portrayed as a rogue state while India being made to look like a saint.

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy What do ppl think of the whle AQ khan affair? The pardon? The Army?

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy The AQ Khan corruption was a terribly guarded secret in Pakistan.

Rethinking Pakistan’s Kashmir Policy Prosecuting Pakistan`s nuclear father may bring unwanted scrutiny: analysts

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - The sacking of Pakistan`s nuclear pioneer Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan from a government position signals his possible trial over his alleged role in the transfer of nuclear technology to Iran and Libya, analysts say.

But prosecuting the 66-year-old metallurgist, who played a key role in making Pakistan a nuclear power and is seen as a hero, would be a risky undertaking and could expose the nuclear program to damaging scrutiny, they said.

``The real challenge for the government would be the Pandora`s box that such an action would open,`` Riffat Hussain, head of the Strategic Studies Department at Islamabad`s Quaid-e-Azam University, told AFP.


``Pushed to the wall A.Q. Khan can spill the beans, which can complicate matters -- especially Islamabad`s claims that technology leakage was done without official sanction,`` Hussain said.


According to government officials Khan has become a primary suspect in a two-month inquiry by Pakistani investigators into nuclear proliferation.


The investigation was initiated after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) alerted Pakistan to the suspected role of some individuals in clandestine sales of nuclear secrets to Iran and Libya.


But already, radical Islamic parties and professional groups have protested against what they call a ``US-prompted campaign`` against the father of the Islamic world`s first nuclear bomb.


``The possibility of him being charged now exists,`` acknowledged political analyst Mohammad Afzal Niazi, but he added: ``It will be a traumatic experience for the country because A.Q. Khan was the symbol of the nuclear programme.``


Immediately after his sacking authorities beefed up security around Khan`s home. Military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said this was done because the government ``is definitely concerned about his security.``


Khan`s contribution to Pakistan`s nuclear programme was the procurement of a blueprint for uranium centrifuges, which transform uranium into weapons-grade fuel for nuclear fissile material.


He was charged with stealing it from The Netherlands while working for Anglo-Dutch-German nuclear engineering consortium Urenco, and bringing it back to Pakistan in 1976.


On his return he joined the uranium enrichment plant and the project is credited with ultimately leading to Pakistan`s first nuclear test explosion in May 1998.


In 1983 he was sentenced in absentia to four year imprisonment by an Amsterdam court for attempted espionage, although the sentence was later overturned on an appeal.


Khan has been questioned regularly since this most recent investigation started but he has not been detained during the probe -- unlike about a dozen other scientists and officials.


Five nuclear scientists have been exonerated by investigators while six other individuals, including three officials, are still being interrogated with the probe said to be on the verge of completion.


``I do not think it serves anyone`s interest to call for punitive action against him,`` Hussain said.


``Whatever has happened cannot be undone. The important thing is to institute legal and institutional barriers against this kind of behaviour in the future,`` he said.


``The A.Q. Khan episode offers the government an opportunity to clean up whatever mess it manages to discover.``

But former head of Punjab university`s political science department, Dr Hasan Askari, said it appeared that nuclear leakages did take place in the past and the government was ``justified`` in doing what it was.

``If the government of Pakistan can take action against A.Q. Khan, it is really determined to plug all leakages and is serious about security and safety of the nuclear arsenal of the country`` Askari said.