Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, who ended up dead on Sunday, October 10, 2021, in Islamabad due to Covid-19-related complications at the age of 85, was regarded in Pakistan as "The Father of Pakistan's Atomic Weapons Program". Predominantly, he is regarded as the person who self-assures Pakistan's success in developing nuclear weapons, thereby bringing Pakistan on par with its foes mainly India.
The international condemnation he received for running a rogue nuclear network and proliferating for personal gain had no effect on his status. Instead, the gentleman born in Bhopal in 1936 and whose family immigrated to Pakistan following Partition was portrayed as a patriot, the victim of a worldwide plot to steal Pakistan's nuclear weapons and slander the country.
He was qualified as a metallurgical engineer and was reportedly not the leader of the team that tested Pakistan's nuclear device in May 1998 after India's tests in Pokharan, despite being present at the test site in Chagai. Everyone recognizes his involvement in delivering the first blueprints for Pakistan's centrifuges, which put the country on the road to uranium enrichment.
Pakistan's Secret Bomb
Khan was the one who revealed Pakistan's nuclear capability more than a decade before the country's retaliatory 1998 test. "America knows that" he told senior Indian journalist Kuldip Nayar in an interview in 1987, "The CIA's assertions concerning our possession of the bomb are correct, as are certain foreign journalists' speculations. They informed us that Pakistan would never be able to make the bomb, and they questioned my ability however, they are aware that we have it”.Nayar enquired as to why Pakistan had not made this feat public. “Is it necessary?" Khan responded. "The United States has vowed to shut off all aid." It was interpreted as a planned leak by Pakistan, intended to send a message to Delhi and expedite India's nuclear weapons program.
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