Pakistan’s Disgraced A-Bomb Creator (A.Q. Khan) Hopes to be Freed

[laststeamtrain]

Pakistan’s Disgraced A-Bomb Creator Hopes to be Freed
By SALMAN MASOOD

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program who confessed four years ago to having run an illicit global nuclear proliferation network, expressed hope in an interview published Wednesday that the new government would end his house arrest and lift the restrictions on his movements.

In the interview, his first since 2004 when he was put under house arrest in Islamabad, Dr. Khan, 72, bitterly complained about his confinement and what he described as his deteriorating health.

The interview was published by Nawa-i-Waqt, an Urdu-language newspaper, and its sister English-language publication, The Nation. It was unclear precisely when the interview had been conducted and whether it had been done in person or by telephone. Ayesha Khan, one of Dr. Khan’s two daughters, said in an interview on Wednesday evening that there were no signs of her father’s immediate release and that the family had not been approached by any official of the government of Yousaf Raza Gilani, the new prime minister. “Nobody has come to us,” she said.

“The hope has always been there, but we are not holding our breath,” Ms. Khan said when asked if the family was optimistic about the lifting of the restrictions on her father.

Information Minister Sherry Rehman could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Dr. Khan, a metallurgist known here as the “father of the bomb,” is considered a national hero despite his tearful public apology on state-run television in which he said he sold nuclear technology to several countries.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/world/asia/03pstan.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[angstlessk]

1. he is NOT disgraced..he is a hero in Pakistan..and he is under house arrest

not in jail..his home is larger than some neighborhoods from what I hear???

[Truth2Tell]

2. A.Q. Khan was a patsy.

He WAS instrumental in the development of the Pakistani nuke program, and with the proliferation network that has come to bear his name - don't get me wrong. But he was not the driving force or the person in charge.

The "illicit nuclear proliferation network" that Khan took the public fall for was run by the very same military dictatorship that still runs Pakistan today - whether fronted by Musharraf or Sharif or the PPP. And the network was run under the noses of - and in many cases with the complicity of - U.S. and other Western governments. Richard Armitage and Musharraf agreed four years ago to make A.Q. the fall guy for this long running scam. It looks better for both the U.S. and Pakistan that way. And oh yes, it also allows the network to continue as well.