Mazdak
07 February 2004
The atomic arms bazaar
By Irfan Husain
As President Musharraf runs into increasing flak over his handling of the A.Q. Khan affair, and more murky details emerge about the haemorrhaging of nuclear secrets, we are left to ponder yet again over individual greed.
Although many people who had practically deified Dr Khan now insist that the scientist was merely carrying out state policy when he handed over nuclear blueprints and equipment to Iran, Libya and North Korea, the sordid fact is that he profited mightily by the transactions. While I was aware of some of his Islamabad properties, I had no idea that Dr Khan's real estate interests extended to places as far flung as Timbuktu. Indeed, so keen was he to project Pakistan that apparently he had furniture from the country flown to Mali in PAF C-130s. Now it is difficult to imagine how this could have been done without the armed forces being aware of these brazen deals.
Indeed, Musharraf's widely anticipated pardon for this errant scientist is neither in recognition of his services in developing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, nor from fear of the mullahs who are threatening to take to the streets in protest against Khan's 'humiliation'.
The reality is that if the erstwhile boss of the KRL were to be put on trial, he would inevitably finger a number of people in and out of uniform, as well as spilling the beans about other embarrassing secrets. Deciding that these skeletons are far better locked in their present cupboard, Musharraf is engaging in desperate damage-control measures, and these call for bottling up the crisis as soon as possible.
While the Americans are deeply unhappy about letting A.Q. Khan off the hook, they are caught over a barrel: if they put too much pressure on Musharraf to prosecute the scientist, they will be undermining him at a time they need him in their war on terror, as well as wanting him to continue his peace efforts with India. A weakened Musharraf will be able to deliver on neither front. As it is, he is under huge pressure from the mullahs as well as centrists who regard A.Q. Khan as a hero.
In an investigative article called 'Cold Test' published in the New Yorker just over a year ago, Seymour Hersh quotes CIA sources as reporting that between 1997 and 2002, A.Q. Khan visited North Korea no fewer than 19 times. Since that inhospitable country is not known as a tourist resort, one can only wonder what our home-grown Oppenheimer was doing there with such frequency. And it is inconceivable that KRL's (military) guardians had no idea of his trips.
The weapons research labs at Kahuta are the country's most tightly protected facilities, and it beggars belief to accept the official version that the army had no idea what was happening there. I recall an incident in the mid-eighties when the French ambassador (no less) was beaten up by strapping men in tell-tale white shalwar kameez as he and a deputy stopped their car near the KRL fence. Despite protests, the matter was hushed up. So tight is the security there that even elected prime ministers were not allowed entry: when Benazir Bhutto asked Gen Aslam Beg, the then army chief, to arrange a visit, she was apparently told that "briefings at Kahuta were on a need-to-know basis, and she currently had no need to know."
The reason for the North Korea connection is clear: both impoverished countries entered into a straight trade that involved Pyongyang's missile technology for Islamabad's design for centrifuges used in enriching uranium to weapons-grade purity. The KRL fingerprints were detected by American agents and IAEA inspectors at North Korea's reactor and reported at the time. But Islamabad came out with its usual denials, and the matter was not properly investigated.
Another clue to our nuclear proliferation was contained in the 12,000- page dossier Saddam Hussein presented to the UN in compliance with Security Council resolution 1441 which called for full disclosure of Iraq's past WMD programmes. Buried in this mountain of papers was a memo from an Iraqi secret agent in Dubai who reported being contacted by a person who purported to represent A.Q. Khan and offered to sell nuclear secrets to Iraq. Although nothing came of this approach, this odd incident was reported at the time and routinely denied in our usual knee-jerk fashion. Had the government been serious about halting proliferation, there should have been an inquiry into the allegation then and there.
Many Pakistanis are convinced that the unmasking of A.Q. Khan is part of some vast conspiracy against Pakistan's nuclear programme. The truth is that the international community has been terrified of atomic weapons falling into irresponsible hands. Successive Pakistani governments have vowed that its programme was fully safeguarded, and the leadership has a foolproof system of command and control in place.
To address international concerns, official spokesmen from the very highest level have solemnly assured the world that there was no possibility of any proliferation taking place from Pakistani labs. Now that A.Q. Khan has himself confessed to flogging everything that wasn't nailed down at Kahuta, Pakistan is left - yet again - with egg on its face. After this scandal, the world will ask who else was on A.Q. Khan's list of clients: Osama bin Laden? Mullah Omar?
Fortunately for Pakistan, our current value to Washington in its 'war on terror' outweighs our liability as the world's champion proliferators. And equally fortunately, Iran and Libya were a long way from achieving significant enrichment of uranium based on our technology. However, this is not true of North Korea which has made rapid progress. Should the crisis on the Korean peninsula escalate to the point where Pyongyang actually threatens to use its small arsenal of atomic weapons, A.Q. Khan's global marketing activities could well return to haunt us.
Despite the seriousness of A.Q. Khan's televised mea culpa and its implications for Pakistan, many people - and not just those in government - are still in deep denial. They feel Pakistan is being unfairly targeted, and moan about how other countries like Israel indulged in secret and illicit purchases to develop their nuclear weapons. The problem is that more and more Pakistan is viewed as an irresponsible state that cannot be trusted with an atomic arsenal. And after this latest example of cupidity and dissembling at the highest level, who can blame our critics?
© The DAWN Group of Newspapers, 2004