A Pakistani lawmaker has called for “thorough investigations” into the country’s nuclear proliferation to Iran and North Korea during former President Pervez Musharraf’s regime.
Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Farhatullah Babar on Friday said AQ Khan — considered the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme — had been singled out for nuclear proliferation and demanded that the “entire network” be exposed.
Babar said Musharraf, in his book In the Line of Fire, concedes that several tonnes of nuclear material and drawings had been smuggled from Pakistan to Iran, Libya and North Korea.However, only Khan was singled out, Dawn News quoted him as saying.
The PPP leader argued that it was impossible for any single individual to smuggle out huge centrifuge machines and other nuclear material without connivance and assistance of other players. He called for an enquiry into the matter and bringing to book all those involved in the scam.
Babar’s demand came after Hafiz Hamdullah of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl asked during a Senate session why Khan’s name had not even been mentioned during Yaum-i-Takbeer celebrations, which commemorate Pakistan’s detonation of seven nuclear devices .
Hamdullah said that Khan was a national hero but had been “degraded and insulted” by Musharraf.
{{/usCountry}}Hamdullah said that Khan was a national hero but had been “degraded and insulted” by Musharraf.
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