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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (45565)	2/4/2004 11:55:18 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Dr Qadeer admits to N-proliferation Begs nation’s forgiveness; submits mercy petition to president "ISLAMABAD: Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan on Wednesday offered his "deepest regrets" and "unqualified apologies" to the nation for involvement in "unauthorised" proliferation activities. In a statement on PTV, Dr Khan appealed to the nation to "refrain from any further speculations" and "not to politicise this extremely sensitive issue of national security" in supreme national interest. He said, "It is with the deepest sense of sorrow, anguish and regret that I have chosen to appear before you in order to atone for some of the anguish and pain that has been suffered by the people of Pakistan on account of the extremely unfortunate events of the last two months. "I am aware of the vital criticality of Pakistan’s nuclear programme to our national security and the national pride and emotions which it generates in your hearts. I am also conscious that any untoward event, incident or threat to this national capability draws the greatest concern in the nation’s psyche. It is in this context that the recent international events and their fallout on Pakistan have traumatized the nation. I have much to answer for it," he said. He said: "The recent investigation was ordered by the government of Pakistan, consequent to the disturbing disclosures and evidence by some countries to international agencies, relating to alleged proliferation activities by certain Pakistanis and foreigners over the last two decades." He acknowledged: "The investigation has established that many of the reported activities did occur, and that these were invariably initiated at my behest. In my interviews with the concerned government officials, I was confronted with the evidence and the findings, and I have voluntarily admitted that much of it is true and accurate." Dr Khan said: "I have chosen to appear before you to offer my deepest regrets and unqualified apologies to a traumatised nation. I am aware of the high esteem, love and affection in which you have held me for my services to national security, and I am grateful for all the awards and honours that have been bestowed upon me." However, he said: "It pains me to realise in retrospect that my entire lifetime achievement of providing foolproof national security to my nation could have been placed in serious jeopardy on account of my activities which were based in good faith but on errors of judgment related to unauthorized proliferation activities. "I wish to place on record that those of my subordinates who have accepted their role in the affair were acting in good faith, like me, on my instructions. I also wish to clarify that there was never ever any kind of authorization for these activities by a government official. I take full responsibility for my actions and seek your pardon." Dr Khan said: "I give an assurance, my dear brothers and sisters, that such activities will never take place in the future. I also appeal to all citizens of Pakistan, in the supreme national interest, to refrain from any further speculations and not to politicise this extremely sensitive issue of national security. May Allah keep Pakistan safe and secure." Dr Khan earlier requested a meeting with President Pervez Musharraf at his Camp Office in Rawalpindi. During the meeting he accepted full responsibility for all proliferation activities, which were conducted by him during the period in which he was at the helm of affairs at Khan Research Laboratories. Dr Khan also submitted his mercy petition to the president and requested for clemency, in view of his services for national security. He also reconfirmed to the president the details of proliferation activities he committed in the past. During the meeting Dr Khan reconfirmed to the president the details of proliferation activities that he had committed in the past, and had admitted earlier in interviews with the investigating team appointed by the government. Dr Khan said he realised that these activities, which were in clear violation of different Pakistani laws, could have seriously jeopardised Pakistan’s nuclear capability and put the nation at risk. Dr Qadeer named ex-army chiefs Aslam Beg and Jehangir Karamat in an 11-page statement confessing to selling nuclear secrets to the three states between 1988 and 1997, the official said. He named two gentlemen, generals Beg and Karamat, who were then questioned," a military official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "(Khan) said they were in the know. In one case he said he did it on their instructions, but not directly. They asked someone else and that fellow instructed A Q Khan and that man is now dead." The middleman was the late Brig Imtiaz Ali, defence adviser to Benazir Bhutto during her first tenure as prime minister from 1988 to 1990. Both Beg, who was army chief from 1988 to 1991, and Karamat, army chief from 1997 to 1998, were "thoroughly" questioned during a two-month probe by Pakistani investigators. "There was no evidence found of what AQ Khan was saying, so it could not be sustained," the official said. "If there is any more evidence of involvement of anyone else they will be questioned, no one is above the law." Beg denied in interviews last week approving or being aware of the sale of nuclear secrets. Military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan denied Musharraf was privy to any transfer of nuclear technology or authorised Dr Khan to do it. "It is absolutely wrong," Sultan said. Musharraf "was not involved in any such matter," he said. Sultan also denied a New York Times report quoting US officials as saying that nuclear aid flowed to North Korea until 2002 and to Libya last year. "The moment President Musharraf came into power, he put in safeguards," Sultan told Reuters. "No such activity has taken place since the Nuclear Command Authority came into being in February 2000. "Before the establishment of the command authority, A Q Khan was fully autonomous," Sultan added. Sultan said that until 2000, Khan was answerable only to the president, but even the president was unaware of what Khan was doing outside his work to develop Pakistan’s nuclear programme. He declined to say if Beg and Karamat had been questioned as part of a two-month investigation launched after the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency found evidence pointing to Pakistani involvement in Iran’s nuclear programme. A senior Pakistani official who briefed local journalists on Sunday said Khan had shared drawings and sketches with other countries and sent them outdated centrifuge equipment as well as uranium hexafluoride gas used in the uranium enrichment process. He added that three Germans, a Dutchman, a Sri Lankan and a South African acted as middlemen in these dealings. News reports have quoted a detailed statement from Khan as saying that Pakistan Air Force planes were used to ferry some of the centrifuge equipment to Dubai-based middlemen. Sultan rejected this. "No military planes were used. Some charter planes and some shipment on normal cargo flights, maybe." Sultan said a government policy statement would be given by Musharraf in an address to the nation next week.