ISLAMABAD: Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear programme, has claimed that the country had the ability and had planned to conduct a nuclear test in 1984, until the then President General Zia Haq “opposed the move”. He asserted Pak was capable of targeting Indian the Indian capital from Kahuta, near Rawalpindi in five minutes.
A Pakistani newspaper quoted Khan saying, “We were able and we had a plan to launch nuclear test in 1984, but then President General Zia had opposed the move.” While addressing people on the occasion of Youm-i-Takbeer, the 18th anniversary of the country's first nuclear tests, Khan said, “Without my services Pakistan would never have been the first Muslim nuclear nation. We were able to achieve the capability under very tough circumstances, but we did it.” Abdul Qadeer was right in the centre of the 2004 massive global nuclear proliferation scandals. He was accused by then army chief and president Pervez Musharraf of running a rogue proliferation network for nuclear material.
In 2004, Khan had to accept responsibility for the proliferation of nuclear technology and forced to live a life of official house arrest. In 2009, the Islamabad High Court declared him to be a free citizen of Pakistan. But Khan said he regretted the treatment meted out to him during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s rule. Nuclear scientists in the country have not been given the respect that they deserve, he said. “We are facing the worst, given our services to the country’s nuclear programme,” said Khan.
On May 28, 1998, Pakistan detonated its nuclear devices at Chagai in Balochistan to become the first Muslim country to achieve the status of a nuclear power. “Pakistan’s atomic programme was developed to make country’s defence impregnable. It is a guarantee for peace in South Asia. This programme created balance of power, which was necessary to make this region safe,” Khan said.
Always in controversy, Khan's family was recently named in the scandalous Panama Papers. His brother and two daughters were all shown as owners of a company registered in the Bahamas.
