His countrymen called him "the father of the Pakistani atomic bomb."

Abdul Qadeer Khan, accused of leaking nuclear weapons technology, dies

• He is greeted by former Pakistani Foreign Minister Sahibzadeh Yaqoub Khan.

  Reuters

• Khan waves his hand to reporters at the door of his house during his house arrest.

  Reuters

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Abdul Qadeer Khan, the architect of the nuclear bomb in Pakistan, who died yesterday at the age of 85, is a national hero in the eyes of his supporters, but a dangerous contributor to nuclear proliferation in the opinion of his critics.

The nuclear scientist died after contracting "Covid-19", and was hospitalized several times in Islamabad, and was seen as the "father of the Pakistani atomic bomb".

Qadeer became a national hero in May 1998, when the Islamic Republic of Pakistan officially became a military nuclear power, with tests conducted days after tests by eternal rival India, but he later found himself at the center of a controversy when he was accused of illegally transferring technologies to Iran, North Korea and Libya, and has been under de facto house arrest in the capital, Islamabad, since 2004.

In 2012, he decided to enter politics, and established a party called the "Pakistan Salvation Movement", in preparation for the legislative elections that took place in 2013, but he failed to secure the election of any candidate for the party, which prompted him to dissolve the party shortly after.

Dr. Khan was born on 1 April 1936 in the Indian city of Bhopal, 11 years before the bloody partition of the British Empire, which led to the birth of Pakistan and India on 14 and 15 August 1947.

The young man immigrated to Karachi (southern Pakistan), where he obtained a scientific diploma, before continuing his studies in metallurgy in Germany, then qualified scientifically in Belgium and the Netherlands.

In the 1970s, he was assigned to a laboratory in charge of developing centrifuges for use in the nuclear industry for the British-German-Dutch consortium (Urenco).

Khan returned to Pakistan in 1976, and the prime minister at the time, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, promoted him to head its civilian nuclear program, especially thanks to documents sourced from the "Urenco" group. In 1983, the Dutch judiciary convicted him of stealing these documents, but the ruling was overturned on appeal.

Khan confirmed, in 1998, that Pakistan has been able since 1978 to produce enriched uranium, and since 1984 Pakistan has been able to conduct a nuclear explosion, and at the same time confirmed that Islamabad “never wanted to build atomic weapons, but was forced to” due to necessities. deterrence against India.

In 1981, the main atomic research institution in Pakistan near Islamabad was renamed "Khan Research Laboratory" in his honor, but Khan's star began to fade in March 2001, as the United States put heavy pressure on General Pervez Musharraf, who took power in the October coup 1999, to remove Khan from the management of the Khan Research Laboratory.

And the Pakistani authorities opened investigations, in December 2003, about 10 scientists and those responsible for the nuclear program, to uncover possible activities to transfer technology abroad.

In February 2004, Khan was placed under house arrest, after it was proven that he was involved in transfers of nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, in the 1990s, and the man - who is considered by some as a "national hero", and others see him as a "weapons-promoting metallurgist." Al-Nawawi - in February 2004, on television, that he had participated in proliferation activities, but later retracted his statement.

As a result, he was pardoned by President Musharraf, and Dr. Khan remained popular in Pakistan despite the controversy, and he regularly wrote publications for the Jang media group praising the teaching of science, and several schools, universities and charities today bear his name.

• Abdul Qadeer became a national hero in May 1998, when the Islamic Republic of Pakistan officially became a military nuclear power, through tests conducted days after tests by eternal rival India.

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