Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Giving details of disgraced scientist A Q Khan8217;s clandestine nuclear transfers for the first time, Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has said that Khan provided North Korea with centrifuges and their designs.
8216;8216;Yes, he passed centrifuges8212;parts and complete. I do not exactly remember the number,8217;8217; Musharraf told Japan8217;s Kyodo news agency, but played down the roles these transfers had played in North Korea8217;s bid to acquire nuclear weapons capability.
Musharraf said Khan could not have been of immense help to North Korea8217;s nuclear weapons programme as his laboratory was engaged in uranium enrichment and not in other steps needed to make a nuke, such as conversion of uranium into gas and development of a trigger mechanism and delivery system.
8216;8216;So if North Korea has made a bomb8230; Dr A Q Khan8217;s part is only enriching the uranium to weapons grade. He does not know about making the bomb, he does not know about the trigger mechanism, he does not know about the delivery system,8217;8217; Musharraf said.
If the North Koreans have acquired such a bomb-making capability, they 8216;8216;must have got it themselves or somewhere else8212;not from Pakistan,8217;8217; he was quoted as saying. Musharraf said he became suspicious of Khan8217;s activities long before the scientist was removed as head of the Khan Research Laboratory in March 2001.
The General also rejected media reports that Khan had bartered uranium enrichment secrets for North Korean help in Pakistan8217;s programme to develop the medium-range Ghauri missile, believed to be an improved version of Pyongyang8217;s Rodong missile.
He also said Khan made three trips to Mali between 1998 and 2000 to meet Libyan officials interested in procuring uranium technology from Pakistan.
