Dr A Q Khan : The past and the present

Kya puchhe hai mujh say meri khamoshi ka baais
Kuchh to sabab aisa hai kay mein kuchh nahi kehta.

Thanks to government support, the hard work of our scientists and engineers and our sincere efforts, Pakistan became a nuclear and missile power in a relatively short span of time. This country is indebted to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq (leaving aside all his mischief), Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto – Mr Bhutto and Ms Bhutto definitely top the list. Upon my personal request, Ms Bhutto allowed the missile deals with China and North Korea to go through and Generals Mirza Aslam Beg and Abdul Waheed Kakar fully supported this.

The morning is gone and this piece is nearly finished. I could still write about much more. For instance, how in 1999 I suggested to Gen Musharraf to allow me to work on launching our own satellite. It could have been done in about three years. Permission was refused. However, despite this, I am nonetheless proud of what my team and I managed to do – nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, anti-aircraft missiles, anti-tank missiles, laser rangefinders and establishing a number of medical and educational institutions. Not a bad record, I think, despite everything Gen Musharraf did to defame me by his campaign of character assassination. Which reminds me -- where is he now? Ignominiously confined to his house and unable to move around freely "for security reasons." Even popular leaders like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto could not avoid what was written for them, despite the fact that they did not compromise on national interests. They have become immortal. To write about such things is the aim of this column.