On 4 February 2004 Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan (1936 – 2021), known as the father of Pakistan’s atomic weapons programme, in a public confession in English on Pakistan TV, claimed an “error of judgment,” in illegally selling nuclear weapon technologies around the world. He later expressed regret at his comments. He was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf.
Khan managed an extensive network selling nuclear secrets to states including Iran, Libya, North Korea, and may have offered help to Iraq and possibly others. The Khan network involved engineers and other specialists in Malaysia, the Gulf States, South Africa, Switzerland, and the UK. Khan was a metallurgist who had worked for the European uranium enrichment company Urenco, in the Netherlands, and used purloined plans and his knowledge to develop Pakistan’s nuclear programme.
Why It Matters
Investigators discovered that for more than a decade the Khan network provided centrifuges, parts and plans, a blueprint for a nuclear weapon, to its clients in exchange for payment. Libya alone was reported to have paid $100 million for support before renouncing its ambitions and shipping out the equipment it had bought. The revelation that the equipment and means to produce a nuclear weapon could be bought off the shelf inflicted a bloody wound on the delicate nuclear balance of the second nuclear age. And the extent of Khan and all his network’s customers remains unresolved.
Further materials:
https://isis-online.org/publications/southasia/nuclear_black_market.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/world/asia/chronology-aq-khan.html
