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'Father of Pakistan's A-bomb', Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan passes away at 85 in Islamabad

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Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan passed away in Islamabad on Sunday morning at the age of 85.

According to Radio Pakistan, he was admitted to a local hospital where his health deteriorated early morning.

Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said he was "deeply grieved" over his passing and called it a "great loss".

"Pakistan will forever honour his services to the nation! The nation is heavily indebted to him for his contributions in enhancing our defence capabilities," he said.


Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said that Dr Khan had played an important role in making the country "invincible". He also offered prayers for the deceased.

Born in 1936 in Bhopal, India, Dr Khan had immigrated along with his family to Pakistan in 1947 after partition of the subcontinent.

Last month, Khan had complained that neither Prime Minister Imran Khan nor any of his cabinet members inquired after his health while he was under treatment at a hospital.

According to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, Dr Khan had been admitted to Khan Research Laboratories Hospital on August 26 after he tested positive for Covid-19. Later, he was shifted to a military hospital in Rawalpindi.

Abdul Qadeer Khan was at the centre of a massive global nuclear proliferation scandal in 2004. In a series of dramatic developments, he was accused by then army chief and president Pervez Musharraf of running a rogue proliferation network for nuclear material.

Shortly after Musharraf’s announcement, a recorded confession by Khan was aired in which he took sole responsibility for all the nuclear proliferation that had been revealed.

DAWN
 
The man regarded as the "father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb", Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, has died aged 85 after being hospitalised with Covid-19.

Dr Khan was hailed as a national hero for transforming his country into the world's first Islamic nuclear power.

But he was also notorious for having smuggled nuclear secrets to states including North Korea and Iran.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistan had lost a "national icon".

"He was loved by our nation bec(ause) of his critical contribution in making us a nuclear weapon state," the prime minister tweeted.

Known as AQ Khan, the scientist was instrumental in setting up Pakistan's first nuclear enrichment plant at Kahuta near Islamabad. By 1998, the country had conducted its first nuclear tests.

Coming shortly after similar tests by India, Dr Khan's work helped seal Pakistan's place as the world's seventh nuclear power and sparked national jubilation.

But he was arrested in 2004 for illegally sharing nuclear technology with Iran, Libya and North Korea.

The revelations that he passed on nuclear secrets to other countries shocked Pakistan.

In a televised address, Dr Khan offered his "deepest regrets and unqualified apologies".

Dr Khan was pardoned by Pakistan's then-president, Pervez Musharraf, but he was held under house arrest until 2009.

The leniency of his treatment angered many in the West, where he has been dubbed "the greatest nuclear proliferator of all time".

But in Pakistan he remained a symbol of pride for his role in boosting its national security.

"He helped us develop nation-saving nuclear deterrence and a grateful nation will never forget his services," President Arif Alvi said.
 
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Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, thank you for your service.

Millions of Pakistanis who are alive today and billions who will live peacefully (Insha'Allah) in future will appreciate your work.

Rest is peace. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.

Only The Creator can reward you for what you did for Pakistan!
 
Inna lillahi wa inna alayhi rajioon

Great and daring man made great sacrifices for pakistan.

Betrayed by the Charlie's in the military made the fall guy by that true traitor musharraf whose policies are still effecting pakistan in a bad way today .
 
Inna lillahi wa inna alayhi rajioon.
Helped to achieve the unthinkable and build the bomb for a poor country. Its not too much of a stretch to say that had it not been for him, the vultures that are gathering around PK today would have attacked it with full force, if we didnt have such a deterrent.
 
I am more than sure he was forced to be a scapegoat for nuclear proliferation. You can not do that just on your own. Regardless of that, he was the face of the Pakistan nuclear program who could easily enjoy a stress-free life in a western country with his family. He will be remembered in golden words and hopefully, God rewards his place in the Heaven.
 
Whether he was just the face, or the main guy behind it doesn't matter. He played a role in safe guarding Pakistan. Inna Lilahi Wa Inna Ilaihi Rajioun


If it wasn't for the nuclear weapons, Pakistan would not exist today.
 
Pakistan's situation would have been even worse than Afghanistan and Syria today, had it not been for this great man and his genius.

The US would have invaded us and used our land to attack Afghanistan, India would have literally captured the whole country, and those who are shamelessly barking against Dr. AQ Khan would have probably died an animal's death if he didn't made Pakistan a nuclear power.

It's sad that he never got the status and adulation he so richly deserved. RIP.
 
A great man has departed. Will always remain a hero who dedicated his life to a greater cause and saved millions of lives.

Couldn't attend his funeral prayer due to intense rain but still thousands were there.
 
Pakistan's situation would have been even worse than Afghanistan and Syria today, had it not been for this great man and his genius.

The US would have invaded us and used our land to attack Afghanistan, India would have literally captured the whole country, and those who are shamelessly barking against Dr. AQ Khan would have probably died an animal's death if he didn't made Pakistan a nuclear power.

It's sad that he never got the status and adulation he so richly deserved. RIP.

You need to reread upon AQ Khan plz.

The father of title that is used for him is grossly an over statement. It was munir ahmad khan who was the father of the atomic bomb in pakistan who was a nuclear reqctor physicist. Plus, munir ahmad was involved in the atomic weapon devolopment before AQ Khan came along who was a metullurgical engineer.

Dr. AQ khan was not even a nuclear scientist.

Thus, if i have to talk about who made pakistan a nuclear state it was a team of physicists that were involved. Munir ahmad often gets overlooked.

I dont know how can you say its sad that he didnt get adulation. He did get adulation. Back in the early 2000s this guy was a big deal.

The reason why he was more famous was his habit of coming on to media giving interviews. Munir khan on the other hand kept a low profile and asked his fellow physicist to do the same as the work they had been doing was very sensitive. AQ khan even got scolded by Zia for his habit of going to the press.

AQ dis get the adulation, however he decided to share nuclear secrets which was comitting treason as he even went to Iran. Had iran got nuclear weapons this would had affected the politics of subcontinent even more.

He got adulation more than anyone else, and even got a state funeral. Munir ahmad khan i believe didnt get a state funeral
 
Request to all:

The news of his passing away has just come so please show some respect when discussing him or his life.

There will be plenty of opportunities to judge him later.
 
Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan passed away in Islamabad on Sunday morning at the age of 85. He was given a state funeral at Faisal Mosque before being laid to rest at the H-8 graveyard.

According to Radio Pakistan, he was admitted to a local hospital where his health deteriorated early morning. PTV said that he died after being transferred to a hospital with lung problems.

A large number of people, including cabinet members, parliamentarians and military officers, attended the funeral prayers.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed earlier said that under the directions issued by Prime Minister Imran Khan, Dr Khan was given a state funeral.

Speaking to the media in Islamabad, he said that the premier had directed cabinet ministers to attend the funeral. The interior minister said that the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the services chiefs would also be in attendance.

Rashid said two graves were prepared; one at Faisal Mosque and another at the H-8 graveyard. He later said his family decided that as per his will he would be buried at the H-8 graveyard.

"The whole nation is grieving," the minister said, adding that the flag would be flown at half-mast.

He said that he had also directed law enforcement agencies and the Islamabad commissioner to make security arrangements.

'National icon for Pakistanis'
Prime Minister Imran Khan said Dr Khan was loved by the nation because of his critical contribution in making Pakistan a nuclear weapon state.

"This has provided us security against an aggressive much larger nuclear neighbour. For the people of Pakistan he was a national icon," he said, adding that he would be buried in Faisal Mosque "as per his wishes".

President Dr Arif Alvi said that he had personally known Dr Khan since 1982. "He helped us develop nation-saving nuclear deterrence, and a grateful nation will never forget his services in this regard," he said.

Last month, Dr Khan had complained that neither PM Imran nor any of his cabinet members inquired after his health while he was under treatment at a hospital.

According to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, Dr Khan had been admitted to Khan Research Laboratories Hospital on August 26 after he tested positive for Covid-19. Later, he was shifted to a military hospital in Rawalpindi but was discharged after recovering from the virus.

'A huge loss for Pakistan'
According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza and all services chiefs expressed sorrow over Dr Khan's passing.

The ISPR statement also quoted Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa as saying that he had rendered invaluable services to strengthen Pakistan's defence capabilities.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said that the nation had lost "a true benefactor who served the motherland with heart and soul."

"The passing of Dr Khan is a huge loss for the country. His role in making Pakistan an atomic power remains central," he said.

Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said he was "deeply grieved" over his passing and called it a "great loss".

"Pakistan will forever honour his services to the nation! The nation is heavily indebted to him for his contributions in enhancing our defence capabilities," he said.

Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said that Dr Khan had played an important role in making the country "invincible". He also offered prayers for the deceased.

Born in 1936 in Bhopal, India, Dr Khan had immigrated along with his family to Pakistan in 1947 after partition of the subcontinent.

He did a science degree at Karachi University in 1960, then went on to study metallurgical engineering in Berlin before completing advanced studies in the Netherlands and Belgium.

After learning of India's nuclear test in 1974, he had joined the nation's clandestine efforts to develop nuclear power. He had founded the Khan Research Laboratories in 1976 and was its chief scientist and director for many years, according to Radio Pakistan.

He was awarded the Nishan-i-Imtiaz for his services to the country.

In 2004, Dr Khan was at the centre of a massive global nuclear proliferation scandal. In a series of dramatic developments, he was accused by then army chief and president Pervez Musharraf of running a rogue proliferation network for nuclear material.

Shortly after Musharraf’s announcement, a recorded confession by Khan was aired in which he took sole responsibility for all the nuclear proliferation that had been revealed. He was subsequently placed under house arrest.

A court ended his house arrest in February 2009, but his movements were strictly guarded, and he was accompanied by authorities every time he left his home in Islamabad.

Later, he had filed a plea in the Lahore High Court seeking enforcement of his fundamental rights, including free movement. The LHC had rejected the plea in 2019 on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction in view of special security measures adopted by the state.

He had then moved the Supreme Court against the LHC's decision, which had asked the attorney general to meet the nuclear scientist and allay his concerns.

DAWN
 
Imran was again absent from AQ’s funeral. It is pretty pathetic that our PM is so superstitious that he avoids attending funerals as he has been told doing so is inauspicious.
 
Imran was again absent from AQ’s funeral. It is pretty pathetic that our PM is so superstitious that he avoids attending funerals as he has been told doing so is inauspicious.

In the UK people are saddled with the bumbling bojo who is under the foot of his woke green agenda loving Princess nut nuts.

In pakistan they are saddled with a pm who is well known for history of taking cocktail of drugs and is under the foot of his wife who some accuse of witchcraft pinki peerni who has even forced her husband to prostate in front of graves .
 
Imran was again absent from AQ’s funeral. It is pretty pathetic that our PM is so superstitious that he avoids attending funerals as he has been told doing so is inauspicious.

I dont get this from Imran Khan. In Islam attending funeral is a big deal and people who attends funeral gets lot of rewards in after-life. So why Imran Khan does not attend funerals? Does not make sense for a person who is talking about making Pakistan a Riasat Madina
 
The haters of Pakistan yet again turn news into anti IK propaganda.

Those who love Pakistan (not the political asylum seekers who fled to HK or other parts of the world), will surely morn this loss of a great man.

If it were not for him, India’s Hindu bomb would be a water bomb.
 
The haters of Pakistan yet again turn news into anti IK propaganda.

Those who love Pakistan (not the political asylum seekers who fled to HK or other parts of the world), will surely morn this loss of a great man.

If it were not for him, India’s Hindu bomb would be a water bomb.

OK leave khans personal superstitions aside

Why didn't alvi atleast pay his respects and attend the janaza.

This isn't any tom dick and Harry this is the father of pakistans a bomb whose network when he was based in Europe allowed paksitan to develop nukes with za bhutto giving him nod , if it wasn't for aq khans key role pakistan wouldn't have nukes And we would have been probably eventually invaded by usa and India and butchered as a nation like Iraq and libya .

That's why this pti is something else they are becoming a party of disdain for most pakistanis
 
OK leave khans personal superstitions aside

Why didn't alvi atleast pay his respects and attend the janaza.

This isn't any tom dick and Harry this is the father of pakistans a bomb whose network when he was based in Europe allowed paksitan to develop nukes with za bhutto giving him nod , if it wasn't for aq khans key role pakistan wouldn't have nukes And we would have been probably eventually invaded by usa and India and butchered as a nation like Iraq and libya .

That's why this pti is something else they are becoming a party of disdain for most pakistanis

Boo hoo. Since when was this thread about PTI or IK? You just proved my point.

Haters of Pakistan.
 
OK leave khans personal superstitions aside

Why didn't alvi atleast pay his respects and attend the janaza.

This isn't any tom dick and Harry this is the father of pakistans a bomb whose network when he was based in Europe allowed paksitan to develop nukes with za bhutto giving him nod , if it wasn't for aq khans key role pakistan wouldn't have nukes And we would have been probably eventually invaded by usa and India and butchered as a nation like Iraq and libya .

That's why this pti is something else they are becoming a party of disdain for most pakistanis

International politics. While i am anti pti, but imran decision made sense.

Imran is infact a big fan of AQ khan, but he couldnt show the world that he was attending his funeral because it would had deemed it problematic at international level.

Aq khan had become a controversial figure and while pakistani state was invovled in those acts of nuclear secrets being shared, they made aq khan take the fall and ever since show international media that look we govt are against him. Since than they have distanced themselves from him.

If imran was in opposition he would had attended
 
A true patriot and a brave son of Pakistan. He could have easily spent a life of comfort in some western country but he was guided by his patriotism for Pakistan

Allah(swt) bless him and grant him a place in Jannatul Firdous
 
Abdul Qadeer (A.Q.) Khan who has just died at the age of 85 from COVID-19, is considered a national hero in Pakistan, his homeland. There, and worldwide, he has been dubbed the "Father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons." But he could equally be called as the Godfather of Iran’s nuclear program.

Born in India in 1936, Khan moved with his family in the wake of partition to Pakistan in 1952. In 1972, at the age of 36, he was sent to specialize in a Dutch laboratory and workshop, which was part of the European URENCO consortium, building centrifuges to enrich uranium.

Khan stole their documents and plans but then, in 1975, he was exposed by Dutch intelligence and fled to Pakistan. There, he persuaded the reluctant prime minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, to start a nuclear program to match India’s nuclear weapons.

By pure coincidence, the same year, Arnon Milchan, future Hollywood tycoon and then an Israeli spy, was also involved in a similar theft. According to foreign reports, Milchan and Israel’s 'Scientific Liaison Bureau' intelligence unit bought URENCO’s drawings of centrifuges from a German engineer and built similar centrifuges in Dimona for Israel’s nuclear weapons.

Pakistan conducted its first public nuclear test in 1998, when Nawaz Sharif was prime minister, but it is believed to have achieved nuclear capabilities at least several years previously.

After helping his home country build a significant nuclear arsenal, Khan retired and opened an unusual private business. He set up shop in Dubai and from there ran a convoluted and secretive global network of helpers, engineers, contractors, and financiers, offering other states his nuclear knowhow, tradecraft, technology, and equipment. The network rented workshops, factories, offices, and computer centers in several countries including Malaysia, North Korea, and Switzerland, to name a few.

Clothed with the aura of the nuclear genius who facilitated the first "Muslim bomb," A.Q. Khan traveled extensively during the late 80’s and early 90’s throughout the Middle East, offering his services. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and even Syria rejected his mercenary approach of bombs for bucks. Iran and Libya did accept, but altered the terms and scope of the offer.

Lacking serious scientific infrastructure and expertise, Libya’s then-leader Muammar Gadhafi asked Khan and his team to provide Tripoli with a turn-key project whereby Khan would be responsible for handing over a completed nuclear capacity.

Post-revolutionary Iran, on the other hand, being a proud nation with an already relatively advanced nuclear program developed during the Shah's reign, and good universities and scientists who had studied in the West, chose its own path.

Iran bought from Khan the drawings and plans of Pakistan’s centrifuges known as P1 and P2. Iranian scientists, led by Dr. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was recently gunned down by a Mossad hit team, built their own centrifuges, renaming them Ir-1 and Ir-2, according to foreign reports.

These original centrifuges, which Iran has upgraded and improved since then to be faster and more efficient, continuing the series by calling them Ir-3-4-5-6-7, are now spinning in the uranium enrichment facilities of Natanz and Fordow and are the major concern for Israel, the U.S., and the western world in terms of Iran's nuclear program and intentions.

Israel's intelligence service, led at the time by Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit, took note of Khan’s traveling in the region. But, as Shavit told me a decade and a half ago, Mossad and Aman (military intelligence) did not understand what Khan was up to.

Shavit added that had he and his colleagues correctly interpreted Khan’s intentions, he would have considered sending a Mossad team to kill Khan and thus "change the course of history," at least in the context of Israel-Iran relations.

What eventually exposed Khan’s network was Gadhafi.

After the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, the Libyan leader feared that he was next. He rushed to resolve his issues with the U.S. and the UK, including his support for terror groups around the globe and his involvement in the 1988 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie in Scotland.

Gadhafi began to negotiate with the CIA and the UK's MI6 and revealed to them, complete with full documentation, how Khan’s network was building nuclear sites for him, some disguised as chicken farms. The CIA and MI6, together with the good services of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), eventually dismantled both Libya’s nuclear and chemical programs.

But the CIA and MI6 hid and departmentalized the negotiations with Gadhafi, to the extent that the Mossad and Aman were shocked when they heard the news on the BBC in December 2004.

As a consequence, after being left in the dark, Israel began to dig deeper into its past files and information tips and eventually discovered that Syria was building a nuclear reactor in the desert, though Khan and Iran had nothing to do with it. The Syrian reactor aiming to produce plutonium was built with the help of North Korea and was destroyed in September 2007 by the Israeli air force.

The revelations of the Libyan-American-British-channel via the IAEA, which served effectively as a laundromat washing the source of the information, enhanced international pressure on Iran’s nuclear aspirations, based on the concurrent exposure of the nuclear documentation Khan had sold to Tehran. In 2006 the UN Security Council, including Russia and China imposed severe sanctions against Iran.

Those sanctions eventually forced Iran to cave in, and Iran crawled to the negotiating table and in 2015 signed the JCPOA nuclear deal with the six major powers. The deal formulated an Iranian consent to slow and even dismantle elements of its nuclear program in exchange for a gradual lifting of sanctions.

Unfortunately, in 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump, encouraged by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, withdrew from the deal. Iran is now closer to be a nuclear threshold nation than it was in 2018, closing in on the target whose foundations were laid by Khan.

Khan didn’t only slip through the Mossad’s fingers: the CIA also had a chance to stop Khan’s nuclear role in Pakistan and his subsequent freelance nuclear proliferation business. Years after Khan fled the Netherlands in 1975, Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers revealed that the CIA knew already then about Khan and his involvement in plundering nuclear technology, but the U.S. did very little to stop Pakistan getting nuclear weapons.

But the CIA continued to follow Khan and managed to penetrate his Dubai private venture. It turned out that one of Khan’s Swiss interlocutors was working for the CIA. The network was busted; some of its members were arrested.

Three Swiss engineering specialists, who sold Khan centrifuge parts from production sites in Switzerland, Dubai and Malaysia, were put under investigation. When they were finally sentenced in Switzerland in 2012, they avoided jail time; it was widely reported that the CIA had urged plea bargains in view of the engineers' collaboration with the intelligence service.

When Khan’s role in Libya was blown open in 2004, the Pakistani authorities, under intense international pressure, 'debriefed him,' avoiding a formal indictment, on charges of illegally selling nuclear secrets. The Pakistani authorities refused to allow the IAEA to question Khan; instead, they pledged to interrogate him in its place. This led to a notably incomplete accounting of Khan's dealings.

After Khan confessed to his nukes-and secrets-for-sale network on national television, and strenuously, and conveniently, denied any Pakistani state involvement or knowledge of his activities, he was pardoned by then-president Pervez Musharraf who put him under house arrest.

But Khan remained a national hero in the public eye as well as in the estimation of the Pakistani establishment, dominated then as now by the military. No wonder Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan (no relation) tweeted his condolences: "For the people of Pakistan, he was a national icon."

A.Q. Khan will go down in history as the scientist who took Pakistan nuclear, the shady businessman who became the biggest ever private nuclear proliferator, and as that rare bird – a survivor in the lethal world of nuclear geopolitics and counter-intelligence.

He is among the few nuclear scientists who helped Israel’s enemies acquire game-changing strategic military capacities who was not assassinated by the Mossad, and died in his bed of natural causes.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news...-bomb-escaped-mossad-assassination-1.10282556
 
Great man who made sure we become a nuke power. If Pak is not similar to Iraq or Syria today it is thanks to this man. I salute his courage making us nuke power despite all the pressure he faced at the time. I would say in the history of Pakistan he ranks third in importance after the Quaid Jinnah and Dr Iqbal.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Dr.Abdul Qadeer khan passed away. Inna lillahi wa inna elaihi rajaoon. He had a very big role in my career as i played for KRL for many years. His note of appreciation is one of my most cherished possessions. <br>He was truly Mohsin e Pakistan.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DrAbdulQadeerKhan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DrAbdulQadeerKhan</a> <a href="https://t.co/UALbd550Lq">pic.twitter.com/UALbd550Lq</a></p>— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) <a href="https://twitter.com/shoaib100mph/status/1447139638167187456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
The National Assembly on Thursday passed a unanimous resolution to pay homage to the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan for his services to the country.

The National Assembly sitting, chaired by Speaker Asad Qaiser, paid homage to the services Dr Qadeer, MNA Pervez Malik and legendary actor Umar Sharif rendered for the country and the nation.

The resolution was presented by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan.

In the resolution, members of the assembly recommended the inclusion of Dr Qadeer’s services in the national curriculum. Besides, they also demanded that the country's major airports, motorways, one of the entrances to parliament be named after Dr Qadeer and that Dr Qadeer Awards be given to students who excel in the field of education.

The House also paid homage to the services of lawmaker Pervez Malik and legendary actor Umar Sharif.

The usual agenda of the meeting was suspended and turned into a condolence reference.

At the outset, the NA speaker expressed sorrow over the death of Dr Qadeer and MNA Malik.

He said that Dr Qadeer was the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. “He made the defence of the country invincible.”

The speaker said that Malik was a very senior and experienced politician and parliamentarian. “The death of Pervez Malik is a great loss for this House.”

On behalf of the entire House, he said, “I offer my condolences to both the personalities and the families”.

Qaiser also expressed grief over the demise of actor Umar Sharif and prayed for the eternal peace of the three distinguished men. The prayers were led by MNA Maulana Akbar Chitrali.

Addressing the condolence reference, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that Dr Qadeer not only played a role in making the country a nuclear power but also prepared a team of scientists to take the nuclear programme forward.

The foreign minister said that former president of Pakistan Ishaq Khan and PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto worked hard in every era, including Nawaz Sharif’s, to safeguard and advance the nuclear programme. “The whole nation is in agreement on the nuclear programme and there was no difference of opinion on it.”

Former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that Dr Qadeer was a hero of this country. The treatment meted out to Dr Qadeer was deplorable. “Dr Qadeer Khan will always live in our hearts.”

Dr Qadeer was brought to Pakistan by late ZAB, he said, adding that he finally laid the foundation of the nuclear programme. “Our nuclear programme is the guarantor of the country's defence.”

PML-N’s Khawaja Asif said that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was our hero. “Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan spent many years in semi-detention. It is our duty to acknowledge his services.”

Dr Qadeer was defeated by the then government, he said. “Those who serve the country under external pressure and political expediency should not be discouraged.”

Khawaja Asif apologised on behalf of the entire nation for the treatment meted out to Dr Qadeer.

The minister of state for parliamentary affairs said, “Quaid-e-Azam made the country while Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan saved Pakistan.”
 
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