Is Khan a loose gun?

Khan is once again in the news. He has been accused of passing on the bomb technology to Libya. Earlier, he was suspected of bartering the technology to North Korea. Even Iran's name has come up. All the three countries have denied it and so has Pakistan. But denials raise more questions than answer them. When Khan is alleged to have stolen the technology from Holland, where he was working in a nuclear laboratory, he would have had no compunction in selling the know-how to any country willing to pay the "price." One expert has said that a long time ago began the great nuclear adventure of marrying the pirated Dutch enrichment technology to the warhead designs that would later be imported from China. This happened.

However, Khan could not have done anything without the consent of Islamabad's rulers -- Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Zia-ul Haq, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf. In other words, they must have blessed Khan for what he was doing. After India's first nuclear test at Pokharan in 1974, Khan reportedly volunteered to Pakistan's then Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, that he could match India's effort and even surpass it, provided he had the funds and the unstinted backing of his government. It is no secret that Libya's Mummer Gaddafi is said to have sent suitcases stuffed with dollars to Islamabad. In return, Bhutto who had initiated the project reportedly passed on to Libya the technology of uranium. After many years, Washington confirmed this. Libya too has admitted that the uranium enrichment technology was part of its clandestine effort to build a bomb. America says that Gaddafi has pointed its finger at Pakistan which has denied the charge vehemently.

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"It has all the hallmarks of a Pakistani system," a senior official in Washington said. "These guys are now there as suppliers to the biggest proliferation problems we have," the official added, referring to the Pakistani aid to the nuclear programmes of Libya, North Korea and Iran. Only a few days ago were five Khan's close scientists arrested at Islamabad for their "involvement." Pakistan has been forced to put a ban on foreign travel of nuclear scientists. True, America's pressure on Pakistan forced all this just as it made Islamabad some time ago to remove Khan from the Kahuta plant and the laboratory which bore his name. But he is still President Musharraf's adviser and Khan has not stopped functioning as a scientist. Khan's troubles are of his own making. He is too intense and too committed to what he considers is in his country's interest.

The Pakistan establishment has distanced itself from him. Musharraf has assured President Bush that Islamabad will not pass on its bomb-making expertise to others. But the disclosures in North Korea and Libya put a question mark against the assurance. Still Khan's single-mindedness cannot be doubted. Even when I met him, along with Mushahid Hussain, then The Muslim editor, what struck me about Khan was the conviction that his country should remain invincible. By then Islamabad had the bomb in the basement. He told me in no uncertain terms that Pakistan would use the bomb if India ever drove it to the wall as it did during the Bangladesh war.

His nationalistic instinct, in fact, made him spill the beans. During the interview, there came a stage when I was not reaching anywhere. He would not answer my straight question: whether Pakistan had the bomb or not. But he nearly hit the roof when I said that according to Dr H Sethna, India's father of the bomb, Pakistan had neither men nor material to make the bomb. Sethna had not told me this but I made it up to provoke Khan. A person who was highly egoist could not contain himself. He banged the table and said at the top of his voice: "Tell them we have it, we have it." He would not brook any doubt about Pakistan's capability.

Mushahid's face fell when Khan made the claim. Since Mushahid had arranged the interview, he could visualise the repercussions. Poor Mushahid lost his job and had to face the charge of treason which some religious parties levelled against him. General Zia saved the situation but Mushahid was literally hauled over the coals.

By pressuring The Muslim to oust Mushahid, the government tried to devalue the achievements of Pakistan's scientists. When Khan told me that they had "done it" in seven years as against India's 12, he was beaming with pride. Indeed, it was a tribute to him and his colleagues. And this was all that Mushahid wrote arguing that Pakistan should not be on the "defensive" or "peevish" on the issue and that the bomb was a matter of pride.

I could make out that Khan had got carried away during the interview and said more than what he was supposed to. Pakistan's top officials probably took him to task for going beyond his brief. Two Pakistani papers carried the interview on the same day as The Observer did. This only confirmed that the interview had taken place which Khan did not want to admit. It was obvious that he had gone back on what he had said because of the pressure on him and the uproar the publication of the interview had caused. He said that he had never talked to me and that I had merely accompanied Mushahid when the latter delivered the invitation card of his wedding.

It is true that Khan did not allow me to take down notes. But he talked for an hour and gave the photocopies of some articles written on his early life. I recall his wife, a Dutch woman, wheeling in a trolley with cakes, biscuits, patties and sweets. Many people have told me at my face that Islamabad used me because it wanted to send India a message that Pakistan would retaliate if and when attacked. This could well be true. Those were the days when the brass tacks operation was on near Pakistan's borders and Islamabad was scared.

Yet Khan's brief was only to say that Pakistan was "now on the threshold" of being a nuclear power. He was not expected to blurt out that it had the bomb. That I was able to provoke him did the trick. Since then I have been preaching that the two countries should come to an understanding on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. For sure, they can destroy each other.

No one can take away from Khan his doggedness and outstanding ability. His pride to have built the bomb was commendable. But he needs to be controlled. An indisciplined scientist like a loose gun can pose a real danger to the world.

Kuldip Nayar is an eminent Indian columnist.