London: A letter written by Pakistani atomic scientist A Q Khan has allegedly revealed the country’s nexus with the controversial nuclear programmes of Iran, North Korea and Libya.
The letter written by Khan, who was Pakistan's national hero but now lives in disgrace after being exposed as a nuclear technology smuggler, claims that Pakistan helped China in enrichment technology in exchange for nuclear bomb blueprints.
He claims that late Pakistani Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, when she was Prime Minister, had asked him to give nuclear technology know-how to Iran.
Khan made the revelations in a four-page “secret” letter addressed to his Dutch wife Henny, the Sunday Times reported. Khan wrote the letter after his arrest in 2003 and the newspaper correspondent got a copy of the letter in 2007. The newspaper did not explain why it was making public the letter now.
In numbered paragraphs, the letter outlines Pakistan’s links with China’s nuclear programme and its official support to the atomic programmes of Iran, North Korea and Libya.
On Iran, the letter says: "Probably with the blessings of BB (Benazir Bhutto, who became Pakistan’s Prime Minister in 1988) and General Imtiaz (Benazir s defence adviser, now dead) asked me to give a set of drawings and some components to the Iranians The names and addresses of suppliers were also given to the Iranians."
On North Korea, the letter says: "(A now-retired general) took three million dollars through me from the N. Koreans and asked me to give some drawings and machines."
The Sunday Times report said the first customer for one of Pakistan’s enrichment plants was China which itself had supplied the country with highly enriched uranium for two nuclear bombs in the summer of 1982.
"We put up a centrifuge plant at Hanzhong (250km southwest of Xian)," Khan's letter says. "The Chinese gave us drawings of the nuclear weapon, gave us 50 kg of enriched uranium, gave us 10 tonnes of UF6 (natural) and 5 tons of UF6 (3%)." (UF6 is uranium hexafluoride, the gaseous feedstock for an enrichment plant.)
Khan became an idolised figure in Pakistan in the 1980s because of his success in building a uranium-enrichment plant at Kahuta, near Islamabad.
In February 2004, three years after his retirement, he was accused of proliferating nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. A centrifuge enrichment plant to make highly enriched uranium was the alternative route Khan follow to make an atomic bomb.
The newspaper report says Li Chew, the senior minister who ran China’s nuclear-weapons programme, warned Khan about his activities years earlier. "As long as they need the bomb, they will lick your balls. As soon as you have delivered the bomb, they will kick your balls," Li told Khan.
In the letter to his wife, Khan rephrased things: "The bastards first used us and are now playing dirty games with us."
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