Abdul Qadeer Khan
For the Pakistani doctor associated with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, see Abdul Quddoos Khan.
Dr. Abdul Qadeer KhanHI, NI & BAR (twice)
Born
1 April 1936 (1936-04-01) (age 73)Bhopal, British India
Residence
Pakistan
Nationality
Pakistani
Fields
Metallurgical Engineering
Institutions
Khan Research Laboratories
Alma mater
Catholic University of LeuvenDelft University of Technology
Known for
Pakistani Nuclear Program
Notable awards
Hilal-i-Imtiaz (14-8-1989)Nishan-i-Imtiaz (14-8-1996 and 23-3-1999)
Religious stance
Islam
Abdul Qadeer Khan (Urdu: born April 1, 1936 in Bhopal, British India) is a Pakistani nuclear scientist and metallurgical engineer, widely regarded as the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program. His middle name is occasionally rendered as Quadeer, Qadir or Qadeer, and his given names are usually abbreviated to A.Q..
In January 2004, Khan confessed to having been involved in a clandestine international network of nuclear weapons technology proliferation from Pakistan to Libya, Iran and North Korea. On February 5, 2004, the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, announced that he had pardoned Khan, who is widely seen as a national hero.[1]
In an August 23, 2005 interview with Kyodo News General Pervez Musharraf confirmed that Khan had supplied gas centrifuges and gas centrifuge parts to North Korea and, possibly, an amount of uranium hexafluoride.[2]
In interviews from May through July of 2008, Khan recanted his previous confession of his involvement with Iran and North Korea. He said President Pervez Musharraf forced him to be a "scapegoat" for the "national interest."[3][4] Khan accuses the Pakistan Army and President Musharraf of proliferating nuclear arms.[5] He said centrifuges were sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. He also said that he had traveled to North Korea in 1999 with a Pakistani Army general to buy shoulder-launched missiles from the government there.[6]
Islamabad High Court on February 6, 2009 declared Dr. A. Q. Khan as a free citizen of Pakistan and said that he is free to locomote in Pakistan; the verdict was given by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam.[7]
Khan was born Bhopal into a Urdu Speaking-Pathan family, which migrated from India to Pakistan in 1952. He obtained a B.Sc. degree in 1960 from the University of Karachi, majoring in physical metallurgy. He then obtained an engineer's degree in 1967 from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, and a Ph.D. degree in metallurgical engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 1972.[8].
Work in the Netherlands
In 1972, the year he received his PhD, Khan joined the staff of the Physical Dynamics Research Laboratory (FDO) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. FDO was a subcontractor for URENCO, the uranium enrichment facility at Almelo in the Netherlands, which had been established in 1970 by the United Kingdom, West Germany, and the Netherlands to assure a supply of enriched uranium for the European nuclear reactors. The URENCO facility used Zippe-type centrifuge technology to separate the fissionable isotope uranium-235 out of uranium hexafluoride gas by spinning a mixture of the two isotopes at up to 100,000 revolutions a minute. The technical details of these centrifuge systems are regulated as secret information by export controls because they could be used for the purposes of nuclear proliferation.
In May 1974, India carried out its first nuclear test, code named Smiling Buddha, to the great alarm of the Government of Pakistan. Around this time, Khan having a distinguished career and being one of the senior most scientists at the nuclear plant he worked at, had privileged access to the most restricted areas of the URENCO facility as well as to documentation on the gas centrifuge technology. India's surprise nuclear test and the subsequent Pakistani scramble to establish a deterrent caused great alarm to the Pakistani government as well as the Pakistani diaspora including individuals like Khan. A subsequent investigation by the Dutch authorities found that he had passed highly-classified material to a network of Pakistani intelligence agents; however, they found no evidence that he was sent to the Netherlands as a spy nor were they able to determine whether he approached the Government of Pakistan about espionage first or whether they had approached him. In December 1975, after having stolen the gas centrifuge blueprints, Khan suddenly left the Netherlands; he returned to Pakistan in 1976.[9].
The former Dutch Prime Minister, Ruud Lubbers, said in early August 2005 that the Government of the Netherlands knew of Khan "stealing" the secrets of nuclear technology but let him go on at two occasions after the CIA expressed their wish to continue monitoring his movements.[10][11]
For the Pakistani doctor associated with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, see Abdul Quddoos Khan.
Dr. Abdul Qadeer KhanHI, NI & BAR (twice)
Born
1 April 1936 (1936-04-01) (age 73)Bhopal, British India
Residence
Pakistan
Nationality
Pakistani
Fields
Metallurgical Engineering
Institutions
Khan Research Laboratories
Alma mater
Catholic University of LeuvenDelft University of Technology
Known for
Pakistani Nuclear Program
Notable awards
Hilal-i-Imtiaz (14-8-1989)Nishan-i-Imtiaz (14-8-1996 and 23-3-1999)
Religious stance
Islam
Abdul Qadeer Khan (Urdu: born April 1, 1936 in Bhopal, British India) is a Pakistani nuclear scientist and metallurgical engineer, widely regarded as the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program. His middle name is occasionally rendered as Quadeer, Qadir or Qadeer, and his given names are usually abbreviated to A.Q..
In January 2004, Khan confessed to having been involved in a clandestine international network of nuclear weapons technology proliferation from Pakistan to Libya, Iran and North Korea. On February 5, 2004, the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, announced that he had pardoned Khan, who is widely seen as a national hero.[1]
In an August 23, 2005 interview with Kyodo News General Pervez Musharraf confirmed that Khan had supplied gas centrifuges and gas centrifuge parts to North Korea and, possibly, an amount of uranium hexafluoride.[2]
In interviews from May through July of 2008, Khan recanted his previous confession of his involvement with Iran and North Korea. He said President Pervez Musharraf forced him to be a "scapegoat" for the "national interest."[3][4] Khan accuses the Pakistan Army and President Musharraf of proliferating nuclear arms.[5] He said centrifuges were sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. He also said that he had traveled to North Korea in 1999 with a Pakistani Army general to buy shoulder-launched missiles from the government there.[6]
Islamabad High Court on February 6, 2009 declared Dr. A. Q. Khan as a free citizen of Pakistan and said that he is free to locomote in Pakistan; the verdict was given by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam.[7]
Khan was born Bhopal into a Urdu Speaking-Pathan family, which migrated from India to Pakistan in 1952. He obtained a B.Sc. degree in 1960 from the University of Karachi, majoring in physical metallurgy. He then obtained an engineer's degree in 1967 from Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, and a Ph.D. degree in metallurgical engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium in 1972.[8].
Work in the Netherlands
In 1972, the year he received his PhD, Khan joined the staff of the Physical Dynamics Research Laboratory (FDO) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. FDO was a subcontractor for URENCO, the uranium enrichment facility at Almelo in the Netherlands, which had been established in 1970 by the United Kingdom, West Germany, and the Netherlands to assure a supply of enriched uranium for the European nuclear reactors. The URENCO facility used Zippe-type centrifuge technology to separate the fissionable isotope uranium-235 out of uranium hexafluoride gas by spinning a mixture of the two isotopes at up to 100,000 revolutions a minute. The technical details of these centrifuge systems are regulated as secret information by export controls because they could be used for the purposes of nuclear proliferation.
In May 1974, India carried out its first nuclear test, code named Smiling Buddha, to the great alarm of the Government of Pakistan. Around this time, Khan having a distinguished career and being one of the senior most scientists at the nuclear plant he worked at, had privileged access to the most restricted areas of the URENCO facility as well as to documentation on the gas centrifuge technology. India's surprise nuclear test and the subsequent Pakistani scramble to establish a deterrent caused great alarm to the Pakistani government as well as the Pakistani diaspora including individuals like Khan. A subsequent investigation by the Dutch authorities found that he had passed highly-classified material to a network of Pakistani intelligence agents; however, they found no evidence that he was sent to the Netherlands as a spy nor were they able to determine whether he approached the Government of Pakistan about espionage first or whether they had approached him. In December 1975, after having stolen the gas centrifuge blueprints, Khan suddenly left the Netherlands; he returned to Pakistan in 1976.[9].
The former Dutch Prime Minister, Ruud Lubbers, said in early August 2005 that the Government of the Netherlands knew of Khan "stealing" the secrets of nuclear technology but let him go on at two occasions after the CIA expressed their wish to continue monitoring his movements.[10][11]