Abdul Qadeer Khan
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Abdul Qadeer Khan (1 April 1936 – 10 October 2021) was a Pakistani
nuclear physicist Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...
and metallurgical engineer. He is colloquially known as the "father of Pakistan's atomic weapons program". A Muhajir emigrant from India who migrated to Pakistan in 1952, Khan was educated in the metallurgical engineering departments of Western European technical universities where he pioneered studies in
phase transitions In physics, chemistry, and other related fields like biology, a phase transition (or phase change) is the physical process of transition between one state of a medium and another. Commonly the term is used to refer to changes among the basic Sta ...
of metallic alloys, uranium metallurgy, and
isotope separation Isotope separation is the process of concentrating specific isotopes of a chemical element by removing other isotopes. The use of the nuclides produced is varied. The largest variety is used in research (e.g. in chemistry where atoms of "marker" n ...
based on gas centrifuges. After learning of India's "
Smiling Buddha Smiling Buddha (Ministry of External Affairs (India), MEA designation: Pokhran-I) was the code name of India's first successful Nuclear weapons testing, nuclear weapon test on 18 May 1974. The nuclear fission bomb was detonated in the Pokhran#P ...
" nuclear test in 1974, Khan joined his nation's clandestine efforts to develop
atomic weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explo ...
when he founded the
Khan Research Laboratories The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (shortened as KRL), is a federally funded research and development laboratory located in Kahuta at a short distance from Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan. Established in 1976, the laboratory is best know ...
(KRL) in 1976 and was both its chief scientist and director for many years. In January 2004, Khan was subjected to a debriefing by the Musharraf administration over evidence of
nuclear proliferation Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons to additional countries, particularly those not recognized as List of states with nuclear weapons, nuclear-weapon states by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonl ...
network selling to
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
,
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
,
Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
, and others, handed to them by the Bush administration of the United States. Khan admitted his role in running this network – only to retract his statements in later years when he leveled accusations at the former administration of Pakistan's Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...
in 1990, and also directed allegations at President Musharraf over the controversy in 2008. Khan was accused of selling nuclear secrets illegally and was put under house arrest in 2004. After years of house arrest, Khan successfully filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government of Pakistan at the
Islamabad High Court The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is the senior court of the Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan, with appellate jurisdiction over the following District courts of Pakistan, district courts: * Islamabad District Court (East) * Islamabad Distr ...
whose verdict declared his debriefing unconstitutional and freed him on 6 February 2009. The United States reacted negatively to the verdict and the
Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...
issued an official statement warning that Khan still remained a "serious proliferation risk". On account of the knowledge of nuclear espionage by Khan and his contribution to nuclear proliferation throughout the world post 1970s, and the renewed fear of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists after the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, former
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
Director
George Tenet George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is an American intelligence official and academic who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a Distinguished Professor in the Pr ...
described Khan as "at least as dangerous as
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...
". After his death on 10 October 2021, he was given a
state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...
at
Faisal Mosque The Faisal Mosque () is the national mosque of Pakistan, located in the capital city, Islamabad. It is the List of largest mosques, sixth-largest mosque in the world, the largest mosque outside the Middle East, and the largest within South Asia ...
before being buried at the H-8 graveyard in
Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...
.


Early life and education

Abdul Qadeer Khan was born on 1 April 1936, in
Bhopal Bhopal (; ISO 15919, ISO: Bhōpāl, ) is the capital (political), capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes,'' due to ...
, a city then in the erstwhile
British Indian British Indians are citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) whose ancestral roots are from India. Currently, the British Indian population exceeds 2 million people in the UK, making them the single largest Ethnic groups in the United Kingdo ...
princely state of
Bhopal State Bhopal State (pronounced ) was founded by the Maharaja of Parmar Rajputs. In the beginning of the 18th-century, Bhopal State was converted into an Islamic principality, in the invasion of the Afghan Mughal noble Dost Muhammad Khan. It was ...
, and now the capital city of
Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...
. He was a Muhajir of
Urdu-speaking Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi Belt, Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccanis, Deccani people of the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in south-central I ...
Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...
origin. His maternal ancestors hailed from the Tirah Valley (now in the
Khyber District Khyber District (, ) is a district in the Peshawar Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Until 2018, it was an agency of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas. With the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in ...
of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ; , ; abbr. KP or KPK), formerly known as the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Northern Pakistan, northwestern region of the country, Khyber ...
, Pakistan) while from his paternal side, an ancestor of his was an Uzbek soldier who came to India with Muhammad of Ghor, the 12th century conqueror, the reason why years later he would name his ballistic missiles as '' Ghauri''. In 1994-1995, Khan would build a mausoleum for Ghori situated at around 80 kilometres from
Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...
. His father, Abdul Ghafoor, was a schoolteacher who once worked for the
Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
, and his mother, Zulekha, was a housewife with a very religious mindset. His older siblings, along with other family members, had emigrated to Pakistan during the
partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...
in 1947, who would often write to Khan's parents about the new life they had found in Pakistan. After his
matriculation Matriculation is the formal process of entering a university, or of becoming eligible to enter by fulfilling certain academic requirements such as a matriculation examination. Australia In Australia, the term ''matriculation'' is seldom used no ...
from a local school in Bhopal, in 1952 Khan emigrated from
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
to Pakistan on the Sind Mail train, partly due to the reservation politics at that time, and
religious violence in India Religious violence in India includes acts of violence by followers of one religious group against followers and institutions of another religious group, often in the form of rioting. Religious violence in India has generally involved Hindus and ...
during his youth had left an indelible impression on his world view. Upon settling in
Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...
with his family, Khan briefly attended the D. J. Science College before transferring to the
University of Karachi The University of Karachi (; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (which is ...
, where he graduated in 1956 with a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
(BSc) in
physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...
with a concentration on
solid-state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as solid-state chemistry, quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state phy ...
. From 1956 to 1959, Khan was employed by the
Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Karachi Metropolitan Corporation () is a public corporation and governing body to provide municipal services in most of Karachi, the capital of Sindh. History 1846 Karachi Conservancy Board was established to control cholera epidemics in ...
(
city government A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
) as an Inspector of weights and measures, and applied for a
scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...
that allowed him to study in
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
. In 1961, Khan departed for West Germany to study
material science A material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geol ...
at the
Technical University An institute of technology (also referred to as technological university, technical university, university of technology, polytechnic university) is an institution of tertiary education that specializes in engineering, technology, applied science ...
in
West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
, where he academically excelled in courses in metallurgy, but left West Berlin when he switched to the
Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...
in the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
in 1965. In 1962, while on vacation in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, he met Hendrina "Henny" Reterink, a British passport holder who had been born in South Africa to Dutch expatriates. She spoke Dutch and had spent her childhood in Africa before returning with her parents to the Netherlands where she lived as a registered foreigner. In 1963, he married Henny in a modest Muslim ceremony at Pakistan's embassy in The Hague. Khan and Henny together had two daughters, Dina Khan - who is a doctor, and Ayesha Khan. In 1967, Khan obtained an
engineer's degree An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering which is conferred in Europe, some countries of Asia and Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. The degree may require a thesis but always require ...
in materials technology – an equivalent to a
Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...
(MS) offered in English-speaking nations such as Pakistan – and joined the
doctoral program A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''Licentiate (degree), licentia docendi' ...
in metallurgical engineering at the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in the Low Countries. In addition to its main camp ...
in Belgium. He worked under Belgian professor Martin J. Brabers at Leuven University, who supervised his
doctoral thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...
which Khan successfully defended, and graduated with a DEng in
metallurgical engineering Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...
in 1972. His thesis included fundamental work on
martensite Martensite is a very hard form of steel crystalline structure. It is named after German metallurgist Adolf Martens. By analogy the term can also refer to any crystal structure that is formed by diffusionless transformation. Properties Mar ...
and its extended industrial applications in the field of graphene morphology.


Career in Europe

In 1972, Khan joined the Physics Dynamics Research Laboratory (or in Dutch: FDO), an engineering firm subsidiary of Verenigde Machinefabrieken (VMF) based in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, from Brabers's recommendation. The FDO was a subcontractor for Ultra-Centrifuge Nederland of the, British-German-Dutch
uranium enrichment Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (23 ...
consortium,
URENCO The Urenco Group is a British-German-Dutch nuclear fuel consortium operating several uranium enrichment plants in Germany, the Netherlands, United States, and United Kingdom. It supplies nuclear power stations in about 15 countries, and stat ...
which was operating a uranium enrichment plant in
Almelo Almelo () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie, and Bornerbroek. Almelo has about 72,000 inhabitants in the middle o ...
and employed gaseous centrifuge method to assure a supply of nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants in the Netherlands. Soon after, Khan left FDO when URENCO offered him a senior technical position, initially conducting studies on uranium metallurgy. Uranium enrichment is an extremely difficult process because uranium in its natural state is composed of just 0.71% of
uranium-235 Uranium-235 ( or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exists in nat ...
(U235), which is a
fissile material In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material that can undergo nuclear fission when struck by a neutron of low energy. A self-sustaining thermal chain reaction can only be achieved with fissile material. The predominant neutron energy i ...
, 99.3% of
uranium-238 Uranium-238 ( or U-238) is the most common isotope of uranium found in nature, with a relative abundance of 99%. Unlike uranium-235, it is non-fissile, which means it cannot sustain a chain reaction in a thermal-neutron reactor. However, it i ...
(U238), which is non-fissile, and 0.0055% of uranium-234 (U234), a daughter product which is also a non-fissile. The URENCO Group utilised the Zippe-type of centrifugal method to electromagnetically separate the
isotopes Isotopes are distinct nuclear species (or ''nuclides'') of the same chemical element. They have the same atomic number (number of protons in their nuclei) and position in the periodic table (and hence belong to the same chemical element), but ...
U234, U235, and U238 from sublimed raw uranium by rotating the uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas at up to ~100,000
revolutions per minute Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 de ...
(rpm). Khan, whose work was based on
physical metallurgy Physical metallurgy is one of the two main branches of the scientific approach to metallurgy, which considers in a systematic way the physical properties of metals and alloys. It is basically the fundamentals and applications of the theory of ...
of the uranium metal, eventually dedicated his investigations to improving the efficiency of the centrifuges by 1973–74. Frits Veerman, Khan's colleague at FDO, uncovered nuclear espionage at Almelo where Khan had stolen designs of the centrifuges from URENCO for the nuclear weapons programme of Pakistan. Veerman became aware of the espionage when Khan had taken classified URENCO documents home to be copied and translated by his Dutch-speaking wife and had asked Veerman to photograph some of them. In 1975, Khan was transferred to a less sensitive section when URENCO became suspicious and he subsequently returned to Pakistan with his wife and two daughters. Khan was sentenced
in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...
to four years in prison in 1983 by the Netherlands for espionage but the conviction was later overturned due to a
legal technicality The term legal technicality is a casual or colloquial phrase referring to a technical aspect of law. The phrase is not a term of art in the law; it has no exact meaning, nor does it have a legal definition. In public perception, it typically re ...
. Ruud Lubbers,
Prime Minister of the Netherlands The prime minister of the Netherlands () or, before 1945, the chairman of the Council of Ministers () is the ''de facto'' head of government of the Netherlands.''Grondwet voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden'' onstitution of the Kingdom of the N ...
at the time, later said that the
General Intelligence and Security Service The General Intelligence and Security Service ( ; AIVD) is the intelligence and security agency of the Netherlands, tasked with domestic, foreign and signals intelligence and protecting national security as well as assisting the Five Eyes in i ...
(BVD) was aware of Khan's espionage activities but he was allowed to continue due to pressure from the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
, with the US backing Pakistan during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. This was also highlighted when despite Archie Pervez (Khan's associate for nuclear procurement in the US) being convicted in 1988, no action was taken against Khan or his proliferation network by the US government which needed the support of Pakistan during the
Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...
. , a Dutch engineer and businessman who had studied metallurgy with Khan at the Delft University of Technology, continued providing goods needed for enriching uranium to Khan in Pakistan through his company Slebos Research. Slebos was sentenced in 1985 to one year in prison but the sentence was reduced on appeal in 1986 to six months of probation and a fine of 20,000 guilders. Though Slebos continued to export goods to Pakistan and was again sentenced to one year in prison and a fine of around was imposed on his company. Ernst Piffl, was convicted and sentenced to three and a half years in prison by Germany in 1998 for supplying nuclear centrifuge parts through his company Team GmbH to Khan's
Khan Research Laboratories The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (shortened as KRL), is a federally funded research and development laboratory located in Kahuta at a short distance from Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan. Established in 1976, the laboratory is best know ...
in Kahuta. Asher Karni, a Hungarian-South African businessman was sentenced to three years in prison in the US for the sale of restricted nuclear equipment to Pakistan through Humayun Khan (an associate of A. Q. Khan) and his Pakland PME Corporation.


Scientific career in Pakistan


Smiling Buddha and initiation

Upon learning of India's surprise nuclear test, '
Smiling Buddha Smiling Buddha (Ministry of External Affairs (India), MEA designation: Pokhran-I) was the code name of India's first successful Nuclear weapons testing, nuclear weapon test on 18 May 1974. The nuclear fission bomb was detonated in the Pokhran#P ...
', in May 1974, Khan wanted to contribute to efforts to build an atomic bomb and met with officials at the Pakistani Embassy in
The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, who dissuaded him by saying it was "hard to find" a job in PAEC as a "metallurgist". In August 1974, Khan wrote a letter which went unnoticed, but he directed another letter through the Pakistani ambassador to the Prime Minister's Secretariat in September 1974. Unbeknownst to Khan, his nation's scientists were already working towards feasibility of the atomic bomb under a secretive crash weapons program since 20 January 1972 that was being directed by
Munir Ahmad Khan Munir Ahmad Khan (; 20 May 1926 – 22 April 1999), , was a Pakistani nuclear engineer who is credited, among others, with being the "father of the atomic bomb program" of Pakistan for their leading role in developing their nation's nuclear we ...
, a reactor physicist, which calls into question of his "''father-of''" claim. After reading his letter, Prime Minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...
had his military secretary run a security check on Khan, who was unknown at that time, for verification and asked PAEC to dispatch a team under
Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood (; b. 1940) is a Pakistani nuclear engineer and a scholar of Islamic studies. Having spent a distinguished career in the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), he founded the Ummah Tameer-e-Nau (UTN) in 1999 ...
that met Khan at his family home in
Almelo Almelo () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie, and Bornerbroek. Almelo has about 72,000 inhabitants in the middle o ...
and directed Bhutto's letter to meet him in Islamabad.Edward Nasim (23 July 2009). "Interview with Sultan Bashir Mahmood". Scientists of Pakistan. Season 1. 0:30 minutes in. Nawa-e-Waqt. Capital Studios. Upon arriving in December 1974, Khan took a taxi straight to the Prime Minister's Secretariat. He met with Prime Minister Bhutto in the presence of Ghulam Ishaq Khan,
Agha Shahi Agha Shahi (; 25 August 1920 – 6 September 2006), ''NI'', was a Pakistani career Foreign service officer who was the leading civilian figure in the military government of former President General Zia-ul-Haq from 1977 to 1982. A diplomat a ...
, and
Mubashir Hassan Mubashir Hassan (; 22 January 1922 – 14 March 2020) was a Pakistani politician, Humanism, humanist, political adviser, and an engineer who served in the capacity of Finance Minister of Pakistan, Finance Minister in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto#Prime M ...
where he explained the significance of highly enriched uranium, with the meeting ending with Bhutto's remark: "He seems to make sense." The next day, Khan met with Munir Ahmad and other senior scientists where he focused the discussion on production of
highly enriched uranium Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238 ...
(HEU), against weapon-grade plutonium, and explained to Bhutto why he thought the idea of "plutonium" would not work. Later, Khan was advised by several officials in the Bhutto administration to remain in the Netherlands to learn more about centrifuge technology but continue to provide consultation on the Project-706 enrichment program led by Mahmood. By December 1975, Khan was given a transfer to a less sensitive section when URENCO became suspicious of his indiscreet open sessions with Mahmood to instruct him on centrifuge technology. Khan began to fear for his safety in the Netherlands, ultimately insisting on returning home.


Khan Research Laboratories and atomic bomb program

In April 1976, Khan joined the atomic bomb program and became part of the enrichment division, initially collaborating with Khalil Qureshi – a
physical chemist Physical chemistry is the study of macroscopic and microscopic phenomena in chemical systems in terms of the principles, practices, and concepts of physics such as motion, energy, force, time, thermodynamics, quantum chemistry, statistical mecha ...
. Calculations performed by him were valuable contributions to centrifuges and a vital link to
nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...
research, but continue to push for his ideas for feasibility of weapon-grade uranium even though it had a low priority, with most efforts still aimed to produce military-grade
plutonium Plutonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is a silvery-gray actinide metal that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four ...
. Because of his interest in uranium metallurgy and his frustration at having been passed over for director of the uranium division (the job was instead given to Bashiruddin Mahmood), Khan refused to engage in further calculations and caused tensions with other researchers. Khan became highly unsatisfied and bored with the research led by Mahmood – finally, he submitted a critical report to Bhutto, in which he explained that the "enrichment program" was nowhere near success. Upon reviewing the report, Bhutto sensed a great danger as the scientists were split between military-grade uranium and plutonium and informed Khan to take over the enrichment division from Mahmood, who separated the program from PAEC by founding the Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL). The ERL functioned directly under the Army's Corps of Engineers, with Khan being its chief scientist, and the army engineers located the national site at isolated lands in Kahuta for the enrichment program as ideal site for preventing accidents. The PAEC did not forgo their electromagnetic isotope separation program, and a parallel program was led by Ghulam Dastagir Alam at the Air Research Laboratories (ARL) located at Chaklala Airbase, even though Alam had not seen a centrifuge, and only had a rudimentary knowledge of the
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...
. During this time, Alam accomplished a great feat by perfectly balancing the rotation of the first generation of
centrifuge A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to subject a specimen to a specified constant force - for example, to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby ...
to ~30,000 rpm and was immediately dispatched to ERL which was suffering from many setbacks in setting up its own program under Khan's direction based on centrifuge technology dependent on URENCO's methods. Khan eventually committed to work on problems involving the differential equations concerning the rotation around fixed axis to perfectly balance the machine under influence of gravity and the design of first generation of centrifuges became functional after Khan and Alam succeeded in separating the 235U and 238U isotopes from raw natural uranium. In the military circles, Khan's scientific ability was well recognised and was often known with his moniker "''Centrifuge Khan''" and the national laboratory was renamed after him upon the visit of President
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also se ...
in 1983. In spite of his role, Khan was never in charge of the actual designs of the nuclear devices, their calculations, and eventual weapons testing which remained under the directorship of Munir Ahmad Khan and the PAEC. The PAEC's senior scientists who worked with him and under him remember him as "an egomaniacal lightweight" given to exaggerating his scientific achievements in centrifuges. At one point, Munir Khan said that, "most of the scientists who work on the development of atomic bomb projects were extremely 'serious'. They were sobered by the weight of what they don't know; Abdul Qadeer Khan is a showman." Viewed 7 January 2013. During the timeline of the bomb program, Khan published papers on
analytical mechanics In theoretical physics and mathematical physics, analytical mechanics, or theoretical mechanics is a collection of closely related formulations of classical mechanics. Analytical mechanics uses '' scalar'' properties of motion representing the sy ...
of
balancing of rotating masses Balancing may refer to: * Balancing (international relations) * Balancing and deranking, in grammar the use in subordinate clauses of verb forms identical to those in main clauses * Balancing (bridge), a term in contract bridge * Battery balancing, ...
and thermodynamics with
mathematical rigour Rigour (British English) or rigor (American English; see spelling differences) describes a condition of stiffness or strictness. These constraints may be environmentally imposed, such as "the rigours of famine"; logically imposed, such as ma ...
to compete, but still failed to impress his fellow theorists at PAEC, generally in the physics community. In later years, Khan became a staunch critic of Munir Khan's research in physics, and on many occasions tried unsuccessfully to belittle Munir Khan's role in the atomic bomb projects. Their scientific rivalry became public and widely popular in the physics community and seminars held in the country over the years.


Nuclear tests: Chagai-I

Many of his theorists were unsure that military-grade uranium would be feasible on time without the centrifuges, since Alam had notified PAEC that the "blueprints were incomplete" and "lacked the scientific information needed even for the basic gas-centrifuges". Calculations by Tasneem Shah, and confirmed by Alam, showed that Khan's earlier estimation of the quantity of uranium needing enrichment for the production of weapon-grade uranium was possible, even with the small number of centrifuges deployed. Khan produced the designs of the centrifuges from
URENCO The Urenco Group is a British-German-Dutch nuclear fuel consortium operating several uranium enrichment plants in Germany, the Netherlands, United States, and United Kingdom. It supplies nuclear power stations in about 15 countries, and stat ...
. However, they were riddled with serious technical errors, and while he bought some components for analysis, they were broken pieces, making them useless for quick assembly of a centrifuge. Its separative work unit (SWU) rate was extremely low, so that it would have to be rotated for thousands of RPMs at the cost of millions of taxpayers money, Alam maintained. Though Khan's knowledge of copper metallurgy greatly aided the it was the calculations and validation that came from his team of fellow theorists, including mathematician Tasneem Shah and Alam, who solved the differential equations concerning rotation around a fixed axis under the influence of gravity, which led Khan to come up with the innovative centrifuge designs. Scientists have said that Khan would have never got any closer to success without the assistance of Alam and others. The issue is controversial; Khan maintained to his biographer that when it came to defending the "centrifuge approach" and really putting work into it, both Shah and Alam refused. Khan was also very critical of PAEC's concentrated efforts towards developing a plutonium ' implosion-type' nuclear devices and provided strong advocacy for the relatively simple ' gun-type' device that only had to work with high-enriched uranium – a design concept of gun-type device he eventually submitted to Ministry of Energy (MoE) and Ministry of Defense (MoD). Khan downplayed the importance of plutonium despite many of the theorists maintaining that "plutonium and the fuel cycle has its significance", and he insisted on the uranium route to the Bhutto administration when France's offer for an extraction plant was in the offing. Though he had helped to come up with the centrifuge designs, and had been a long-time proponent of the concept, Khan was not chosen to head the development project to test his nation's first nuclear-weapons (his reputation of a thorny personality likely played a role in this) after India conducted its series of nuclear tests, '
Pokhran-II Pokhran-II (''Operation Shakti'') was a series of five nuclear weapon tests conducted by India in May 1998. The bombs were detonated at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range in Rajasthan. It was the second instance of nuclear testing conducted ...
' in 1998. Intervention by the Chairman Joint Chiefs, General Jehangir Karamat, allowed Khan to be a participant and eye-witness his nation's first nuclear test, '
Chagai-I Chagai-I is the code name of five simultaneous underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan at 15:15 hrs Pakistan Standard Time, PKT on 28 May 1998. The tests were performed at Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai District of Balochistan Province. C ...
' in 1998. At a news conference, Khan confirmed the testing of the boosted fission devices while stating that it was KRL's highly enriched uranium (HEU) that was used in the detonation of Pakistan's first nuclear devices on 28 May 1998. Many of Khan's colleagues were irritated that he seemed to enjoy taking full credit for something he had only a small part in, and in response, he authored an article, "Torch-Bearers", which appeared in ''
The News International ''The News International'', published in broadsheet size, is one of the largest English language newspapers in Pakistan. It is published daily from Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/ Islamabad. An overseas edition is published from London th ...
'', emphasising that he was not alone in the weapon's development. He made an attempt to work on the Teller–Ulam design for the hydrogen bomb, but the military strategists had objected to the idea as it went against the government's policy of minimum credible deterrence. Khan often got engrossed in projects which were theoretically interesting but practically unfeasible.


Proliferation controversy

In the 1970s, Khan had been very vocal about establishing a network to acquire imported electronic materials from the Dutch firms and had very little trust of PAEC's domestic manufacturing of materials, despite the government accepting PAEC's arguments for the long term sustainability of the nuclear weapons program. At one point, Khan reached out to the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
for acquiring the uranium hexafluoride (UF6) when he attended a conference there – the Pakistani Government sent it back to the People's Republic of China, asking KRL to use the UF6 supplied by PAEC. In an investigative report published by
Nuclear Threat Initiative The Nuclear Threat Initiative, generally referred to as NTI, is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. NTI was founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and philanthropist Ted Turner and describes itself as a "a nonprofit, ...
, Chinese scientists were reportedly present at
Khan Research Laboratories The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (shortened as KRL), is a federally funded research and development laboratory located in Kahuta at a short distance from Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan. Established in 1976, the laboratory is best know ...
(KRL) in Kahuta in the early 1980s. In 1996, the U.S. intelligence community maintained that China provided magnetic rings for special suspension bearings mounted at the top of rotating centrifuge cylinders. In 2005, it was revealed that President Zia-ul-Haq's
military government A military government is any government that is administered by a military, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue or by an occupying power. It is usually administered by military personnel. Types of m ...
had KRL run a HEU programme in the
Chinese nuclear weapons program The People's Republic of China has developed and possesses weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons. The first of China's nuclear weapons tests took place in 1964, and its first hydrogen bomb test occurred in 1966 ...
.Kan, Shirley A. (2009). "§A.Q. Khan's nuclear network". China and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles: Policy issues. Washington, DC:
Congressional Research Service The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a public policy research institute of the United States Congress. Operating within the Library of Congress, it works primarily and directly for members of Congress and their committees and staff on a ...
(CRS): Congressional Research Service (CRS). pp. 5–6. ISBN Congressional Research Service (CRS).
Khan said that "KRL has built a centrifuge facility for China in
Hanzhong Hanzhong ( zh, s= , t= , l=middle of the Han River (Hubei), Han River; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in Southern Shaanxi, the southwest of Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gans ...
city". China also exported some of
DF-11 The Dong-Feng 11 (a.k.a. M-11, CSS-7) is a short-range ballistic missile developed by the People's Republic of China. History The DF-11 is a road-mobile short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) which began development in 1984 as the M-11, of whi ...
's
ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typic ...
technology to Pakistan, where Pakistan's Ghaznavi and Shaheen-II borrowed from DF-11 technology.Duncan Lennox; ''Hatf 6 (Shaheen 2), Jane's Strategic Weapon Systems''; June 15, 2004. In 1982, an unnamed Arab country reached out to Khan for the sale of centrifuge technology. Khan was very receptive to the financial offer, but one scientist alerted the Zia administration which investigated the matter, only for Khan to vehemently deny such an offer was made to him. The Zia administration tasked Major-General Ali Nawab, an engineering officer, to keep surveillance on Khan, which he did until 1983 when he retired from his military service, and Khan's activities went undetected for several years after.{{cite book , title=A.Q. Khan and onward proliferation from Pakistan , publisher=The International Institute For Strategic Studies , date=24 October 2012.


Court controversy and U.S. objections

In 1979, the
Dutch government The Netherlands is a parliamentary representative democracy. A constitutional monarchy, the country is organised as a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, Frits M. Meer, Edward E ...
eventually probed Khan on suspicion of nuclear espionage but he was not prosecuted due to lack of evidence, though it did file a criminal complaint against him in a local court in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, which sentenced him ''
in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...
'' in 1985 to four years in prison.{{cite book , last1=Spector , first1=Leonard S. , title=Nuclear Ambitions: The Spread Of Nuclear Weapons 1989–1990 , date=2019 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=978-0-429-71464-1 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zimNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT326 , access-date=5 July 2020 , language=en , archive-date=28 May 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528172750/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Nuclear_Ambitions/zimNDwAAQBAJ?gbpv=1&pg=PT326&printsec=frontcover , url-status=live {{Citation , last=Khan , first=Abdul Qadeer, title=Sehar Honay Tak (Until Sunrise) , place=Islamabad, Pakistan , publisher=Ali Masud books publication , series=1 , volume=1 , orig-date=2010 , date=June 2010 , chapter=How we developed the program , pages=34–39 , language=en, ur Upon learning of the sentence, Khan filed an appeal through his attorney, S. M. Zafar, who teamed up with the administration of Leuven University, and successfully argued that the technical information requested by Khan was commonly found and taught in undergraduate and doctoral physics at the university – the court exonerated Khan by overturning his sentence on a
legal technicality The term legal technicality is a casual or colloquial phrase referring to a technical aspect of law. The phrase is not a term of art in the law; it has no exact meaning, nor does it have a legal definition. In public perception, it typically re ...
.{{rp, 35 Reacting to the suspicions of espionage, Khan stressed that: "I had requested for it as we had no library of our own at KRL, at that time. All the research work t Kahutawas the result of our innovation and struggle. We did not receive any technical 'know-how' from abroad, but we cannot reject the use of books, magazines, and research papers in this connection." In 1979, the Zia administration, which was making an effort to keep their nuclear capability discreet to avoid pressure from the
Reagan administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following his landslide victory over ...
of the United States (U.S.), nearly lost its patience with Khan when he reportedly attempted to meet with a local journalist to announce the existence of the enrichment program.{{rp, 82 During the Indian Operation Brasstacks military exercise in 1987, Khan gave another interview to local press and stated: "the Americans had been well aware of the success of the atomic quest of Pakistan", allegedly confirming the speculation of technology export.{{cite news , last1=Nayyar , first1=Kuldip , author-link1=Kuldip Nayyar , title=A day with A. Q. Khan , url=http://www.indianexpress.com , access-date=5 July 2020 , work=archive.indianexpress.com , agency=Indian Express , publisher=Indian Express, Pakistan Bureau , date=16 February 2004 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711205806/http://www.indianexpress.com/ , archive-date=11 July 2011 , location=London, Eng. UK. , language=en-uk , url-status=live At both instances, the Zia administration sharply denied Khan's statement and a furious President Zia met with Khan and used a "tough tone", promising Khan severe repercussions had he not retracted all of his statements, which Khan immediately did by contacting several news correspondents. In 1996, Khan again appeared on his country's news channels and maintained that "''at no stage was the program of producing 90% weapons-grade enriched uranium ever stopped''", despite
Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...
's administration reaching an understanding with the United States
Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following his victory over Republican in ...
to cap the program to 3% enrichment in 1990.{{cite web , last=Pike , first=John , title=Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL) , url=https://fas.org/nuke/guide/pakistan/facility/kahuta.htm , work=The Federation of American Scientists , access-date=24 October 2012 , date=16 May 2000 , archive-date=21 October 2012 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021005122/http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/pakistan/facility/kahuta.htm , url-status=live


North Korea, Iran, and Libya

The innovation and improved designs of centrifuges were marked as classified for export restriction by the Pakistan government, though Khan was still in possession of earlier designs of centrifuges from when he worked for URENCO in the 1970s.{{rp, 156–158 In 1990, the United States alleged that highly sensitive information was being exported to North Korea in exchange for rocket engines. Pakistan's
Ghauri missile Ghauri, Ghori, Ghouri, or Ghuri may refer to: People with the surname Ghauri * Babar Khan Ghauri, politician from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan * Dilawar Khan, Dilawar Khan Ghauri, governor of the Malwa province of central India during the decline of ...
was based entirely on
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
's
Rodong-1 The Hwasong-7} () is a single- stage, mobile liquid propellant medium-range ballistic missile developed by North Korea. Developed in the mid-1980s, it is a scaled-up adaptation of the Soviet R-17 Elbrus missiles, more commonly known by its NATO ...
as reflected in its technology. The project was supported by
Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto (21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990, and again from 1993 to 1996. She was also the first woman elected to head a democratic governmen ...
who consulted for the project with North Korea and facilitated the
technology transfer Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...
to
Khan Research Laboratories The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (shortened as KRL), is a federally funded research and development laboratory located in Kahuta at a short distance from Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan. Established in 1976, the laboratory is best know ...
in 1993.{{cite news, last1=Ansari, first1=Usman, title=Pakistan Test-Fires Medium-Range Ballistic Missile, url=http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121128/DEFREG03/311280005/Pakistan-Test-Fires-Medium-Range-Ballistic-Missile, archive-url=https://archive.today/20130719165134/http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121128/DEFREG03/311280005/Pakistan-Test-Fires-Medium-Range-Ballistic-Missile, archive-date=19 July 2013, access-date=22 November 2014, agency=Defence News, publisher=Defence News, date=28 May 2012 On multiple occasions, Khan levelled accusations against Benazir Bhutto's administration of providing secret enrichment information, on a
compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...
(CD), to North Korea; these accusations were denied by Benazir Bhutto's staff and military personnel.{{rp, 113–114{{Cite book , last=Fitzpatrick , first=Mark , contribution=§''Dr. A. Q. Khan and the rise and fall of proliferation network'' , title=Nuclear black markets , location=London, United Kingdom , year=2007 , isbn=978-0-86079-201-7 , publisher=International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) {{cite news, title=General Mirza Aslam Beg: Former Army Foe of Musharraf, url=https://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/pakistan/e.html, access-date=24 March 2013, work=PBS, date=March 2004, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110073047/http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/pakistan/e.html, archive-date=10 November 2012, url-status=live Between 1987 and 1989, Khan secretly leaked knowledge of centrifuges to Iran without notifying the Pakistan Government, although this issue is a subject of political controversy. In 2003, the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
pressured Iran to accept tougher inspections of its nuclear program and the
International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology, nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was ...
(IAEA) revealed an enrichment facility in the city of Natanz, Iran, utilising gas centrifuges based on the designs and methods used by URENCO. The IAEA inspectors quickly identified the centrifuges as ''P-1'' types, which had been obtained "from a foreign intermediary in 1989", and the Iranian negotiators turned over the names of their suppliers, which identified Khan as one of them. Heinz Mebus, a German engineer and businessman and college friend of Khan, was named as one of the suppliers - acting as a middleman for Khan. In May 1998, ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' reported that Khan had sent Iraq centrifuge designs, which were apparently confiscated by the
UNMOVIC The United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) was created through the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 1284 of 17 December 1999 and its mission lasted until June 2007. UNMOVIC was meant t ...
officials. Iraqi officials said "the documents were authentic but that they had not agreed to work with A. Q. Khan, fearing an ISI sting operation, due to strained relations between two countries. On June 7, 1998, 10 days after Pakistan's first underground nuclear test, there was yet another incident according to
Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
. Kim Sa Nae, wife of a midlevel North Korean "diplomat", who was invited by Khan as part of a 20-member delegation was shot to death a few yards from Khan's official residence after she was suspected to be a spy for the United States by the ISI that subsequently informed the North Korean authorities. Privately, some Pakistani intelligence sources leaked this information to the
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
. 3 days after Kim's death, both P-1 and P-2 centrifuges, warheads, and technical data, along with Kim's body, were flown to North Korea in the same American made
C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...
cargo plane that was making rounds between Pakistan and North Korea from 1997-2002. In 2003,
merchant vessel A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which a ...
'' BBC China'' was caught carrying nuclear centrifuges to Libya from Malaysia, the Scomi Group and
Khan Research Laboratories The Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories (shortened as KRL), is a federally funded research and development laboratory located in Kahuta at a short distance from Rawalpindi in Punjab, Pakistan. Established in 1976, the laboratory is best know ...
were supplying nuclear parts to Libya through Khan's Dubai-based Sri Lankan associate Buhary Syed Abu Tahir. This was further revealed in the Scomi Precision Engineering nuclear scandal surrounding Scomi CEO Shah Hakim Zain and {{Ill, Kamaluddin Abdullah, ms, son of former Malaysian Prime Minister
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi (, ; 26 November 1939 – 14 April 2025), also known as Pak Lah, was a Malaysian politician and civil servant who served as the fifth prime minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009. A member of UMNO, he was the party's ...
.{{cite web, title=Prolifération nucléaire par et au profit des acteurs non étatiques - Chaire Raoul-Dandurand en études stratégiques et diplomatiques, url=https://dandurand.uqam.ca/uploads/files/publications/etudes_raoul_dandurand/RD_Etude21_WEB.pdf, website= University of Quebec Montreal, language=fr, publication-date=, access-date=6 September 2022, archive-date=1 March 2014, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301084013/http://dandurand.uqam.ca/uploads/files/publications/etudes_raoul_dandurand/RD_Etude21_WEB.pdf
Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
negotiated with the United States to roll back its nuclear program to have economic sanctions lifted, effected by the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act, and shipped centrifuges to the United States that were identified as ''P-1'' models by the American inspectors. Ultimately, the Bush administration launched its investigation of Khan, focusing on his personal role, when Libya handed over a list of its suppliers. Friedrich Tinner, a nuclear engineer and friend of Khan since their days at the Leuven University, was one of the heads of Libya's nuclear programme and worked in nuclear enrichment for Libya and Pakistan. In 2008, German nuclear engineer {{Ill, Gotthard Lerch, de was convicted and sentenced to five years and six months in prison for procuring centrifuges for Libya from Khan, Lerch also acted as Khan's middleman for Iran. Alfred Hempel, a German businessman, arranged the shipment of gas centrifuge parts from Khan in Pakistan to Libya and Iran via Dubai.{{cite news , last1=Milholin , first1=Gary , date=4 March 2014 , title=Nukes 'R' Us (Opinion) , work=The New York Times , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/04/opinion/nukes-r-us.html?mcubz=3&_r=0 , access-date=6 September 2017 The "A.Q. Khan network" involved numerous shell companies set-up by Khan in Dubai to obtain equipment necessary for nuclear enrichment. From 1999 onwards, Khan traveled to Dubai 41 times according to the Pakistan government. Khan also kept a penthouse on posh al-Maktoum Road. The shell companies consisting of "a fax machine and an empty office" would be used to facilitate shipments and shut down immediately after the deals. {{Ill, Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group, ko, 샤히드 바게리 산업그룹 of Iran's
Defense Industries Organization The Defense Industries Organization (DIO) is a conglomerate of companies run by the Islamic Republic of Iran whose function is to provide the Armed Forces with the necessary manufacturing capacity and technical abilities. In recent years, the DI ...
was involved in
nuclear proliferation Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons to additional countries, particularly those not recognized as List of states with nuclear weapons, nuclear-weapon states by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonl ...
for Iran and North Korea through China. Parts needed for
nuclear enrichment Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238 ...
in Pakistan were also imported by Khan from several Japanese companies.


Security hearings, pardon, and aftermath

Starting in 2001, Khan served as an adviser on science and technology in the Musharraf administration and had become a public figure who enjoyed much support from his country's political conservative sphere. In 2003, the Bush administration reportedly turned over evidence of a
nuclear proliferation Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons to additional countries, particularly those not recognized as List of states with nuclear weapons, nuclear-weapon states by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonl ...
network that implicated Khan's role to the Musharraf administration. Khan was dismissed from his post on 31 January 2004. On 4 February 2004, Khan appeared on
Pakistan Television Pakistan Television Corporation (; reporting name: PTV); also known as ''Pakistan Television'', is the Pakistani state-owned broadcasting, broadcaster founded by the Government of Pakistan, operating under the Ministry of Information & Broadc ...
(PTV) and confessed to running a proliferation ring, and transferring technology to Iran between 1989 and 1991, and to North Korea and Libya between 1991 and 1997. The Musharraf administration avoided arresting Khan but launched security hearings on Khan who confessed to the military investigators that former Chief of Army Staff General Mirza Aslam Beg had given authorisation for technology transfer to Iran. On 5 February 2004, President
Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...
issued a pardon to Khan as he feared that the issue would be politicised by his political rivals. Bill Powell and Tim McGirk, "The Man Who Sold the Bomb; How Pakistan's A.Q. Khan outwitted Western intelligence to build a global nuclear-smuggling ring that made the world a more dangerous place", ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', 14 February 2005, p. 22.
Despite the pardon, Khan, who had strong conservative support, had badly damaged the political credibility of the Musharraf administration and the image of the United States who was attempting to win hearts and minds of local populations during the height of the
Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa The insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also known as the War in North-West Pakistan or Pakistan's war on terror, is an ongoing armed conflict involving Pakistan and Islamist militant groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Jundal ...
. While the local television news media aired sympathetic documentaries on Khan, the opposition parties in the country protested so strongly that the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad had pointed out to the Bush administration that the successor to Musharraf could be less friendly towards the United States. This restrained the Bush administration from applying further ''direct'' pressure on Musharraf due to a strategic calculation that it might cause the loss of Musharraf as an ally. In December 2006, the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), headed by
Hans Blix Hans Martin Blix (; born 28 June 1928) is a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (1978–1979) and later became the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Blix wa ...
, stated that Khan could not have acted alone "without the awareness of the Pakistan Government". Blix's statement was also reciprocated by the United States government, with one anonymous American government intelligence official quoted by independent journalist and author
Seymour Hersh Seymour Myron Hersh (born April 8, 1937) is an American investigative journalist and political writer. He gained recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War, for which he received the 1970 Pulitzer ...
: "Suppose if
Edward Teller Edward Teller (; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian and American Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of ...
had suddenly decided to spread nuclear technology around the world. Could he really do that without the American government knowing?".{{cite web , last=Hersh , first=Seymour , title=is Washington going easy on Pakistan's nuclear black marketers? , url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:zZeDVlZ07iQJ:asr2.myweb.uga.edu/Fall%25202004/Readings/The%2520Deal%2520Why%2520is%2520Washington%2520going%2520easy%2520on%2520Pakistan.doc+edward+teller+a+q+khan&gl=us&pid=bl , work=Work by Seymour Hersh, with the assistance from the US government. , publisher=The New Yorker , access-date=9 December 2012 , format=google docs , date=1 March 2004{{Dead link, date=May 2019 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes In 2007, the U.S. and
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
politicians as well as IAEA officials had made several strong calls to have Khan interrogated by IAEA investigators, given the lingering scepticism about the disclosures made by Pakistan, but Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who remained supportive of Khan and spoke highly of him, strongly dismissed the calls by terming it as "case closed". In 2008, the security hearings were officially terminated by Chairman joint chiefs General Tariq Majid who marked the details of debriefings as "''classified''". In 2008, in an interview, Khan laid the whole blame on former President Pervez Musharraf, and labelled Musharraf as the "''Big Boss''" for proliferation deals. In 2012, Khan also implicated Benazir Bhutto's administration in proliferation matters, pointing to the fact as she had issued "clear directions in thi regard." Khan also said that he was persecuted because he was a Muhajir.


Government work, academia, and political advocacy

{{See also, Pakistani missile research and development program Khan's strong advocacy for nuclear sharing of technology eventually led to his ostracisation by much of the scientific community, but Khan was still quite welcome in his country's political and military circles.{{rp, 151 After leaving the directorship of the Khan Research Laboratories in 2001, Khan briefly joined the Musharraf administration as a policy adviser on science and technology on a request from President Musharraf. In this capacity, Khan promoted increased defence spending on his nation's missile program to counter the perceived threats from the Indian missile program and advised the Musharraf administration on space policy. He presented the idea of using the ''Ghauri'' missile system as an
expendable launch system An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are destroyed during reentry or impact with Earth, or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of s ...
to launch satellites into space.{{cite news , last1=staff reporter , first1=agencies , title=Pakistan risks losing orbital slot if satellite not launched , url=https://www.dawn.com/news/971457/pakistan-risks-losing-orbital-slot-if-satellite-not-launched , access-date=12 July 2020 , work=dawn.com , agency=Dawn Newspaper , publisher=Dawn Newspaper, 2008 , date=20 October 2008 , language=en , archive-date=24 November 2020 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124182615/https://www.dawn.com/news/971457/pakistan-risks-losing-orbital-slot-if-satellite-not-launched , url-status=live {{cite web , url=http://draqkhan.com.pk/index.php/2008/11/the-past-and-the-present-12-nov-2008/#more-3 , title=The past and the present (12 Nov 2008) , publisher=A. Q. Khan , access-date=26 September 2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214144922/http://draqkhan.com.pk/index.php/2008/11/the-past-and-the-present-12-nov-2008/#more-3 , archive-date=14 February 2010 At the height of the proliferation controversy in 2007, Khan was paid tribute by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on state television while commenting in the last part of his speech, Aziz stressed: "The services of uclearscientist ... Dr. bdulQadeer Khan are "''unforgettable''" for the country".{{cite news, title=Dr. Qadeer's services unforgettable, says PM Shaukat Aziz, url=http://paktribune.com/news/Dr-Qadeers-services-unforgettable-says-PM-Shaukat-Aziz-192877.html, access-date=30 May 2012, newspaper=Pakistan Tribune, date=26 October 2007, quote=The services of Nuclear Scientist Dr. Qadeer Khan are unforgettable for the country; we will not hand him over to any other country ..., archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517112524/http://paktribune.com/news/Dr-Qadeers-services-unforgettable-says-PM-Shaukat-Aziz-192877.html, archive-date=17 May 2013, url-status=live In the 1990s, Khan secured a fellowship with the
Pakistan Academy of Sciences The Pakistan Academy of Sciences () (Abbreviations and Acronyms, abbreviated as: PAS), is a learned society of sciences, which described itself as "a repository of the highest scientific talent available in the country." Established in 1953 in ...
– he served as its president in 1996–97.{{cite web , title=Abdul Qadeer Khan , url=http://www.paspk.org/detail.php?id=16&id1=124 , work=Press Directorate Office of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences , publisher=Pakistan Academy of Sciences , access-date=18 October 2012 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204033034/http://www.paspk.org/detail.php?id=16&id1=124 , archive-date=4 February 2014 Khan published two books on material science and started publishing his articles from KRL in the 1980s.{{Cite book , last=Upadhyaya , first=Gopal S. , contribution=§Dr. A.Q. Khan of Pakistan , pages=138–140, title=Men of Metals and Materials: My Memoires , location=Bloomington, Indiana, United States , year=2011 , publisher=iUniverse.com Gopal S. Upadhyaya, an Indian metallurgist who attended Khan's conference and met him along with Kuldip Nayar, reportedly described him as being a proud Pakistani who wanted to show the world that scientists from Pakistan are inferior to no one in the world. Khan also served as project director of
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology The Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology (; ; commonly referred as GIKI) is a private research university located in Topi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The institute has a campus that is located in the vicinity ...
and briefly tenured as professor of physics before joining the faculty of the
Hamdard University Hamdard University () is a private research university with campuses in Karachi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Later, Khan helped established the A. Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering at
Karachi University The University of Karachi (; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (which is ...
. In 2012, Khan announced the formation of a conservative political advocacy group,
Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Pakistan (TTP) (; ''Movement for the Protection of Pakistan'') was a political party in Pakistan founded and led by nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The party is registered at the Election Commission of Pakistan and is head ...
('Movement for the Protection of Pakistan'). It was subsequently dissolved in 2013.{{cite news , last=Gishkor , first=Zahid , title=AQ Khan set to launch own political party , url=http://tribune.com.pk/story/426738/aq-khan-set-to-launch-own-political-party/#comment-885355 , access-date=18 October 2012 , newspaper=The Tribune Express , date=27 August 2012 , archive-date=1 November 2012 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101112841/http://tribune.com.pk/story/426738/aq-khan-set-to-launch-own-political-party/#comment-885355 , url-status=live


Illness and death

In August 2021, Khan was admitted to Khan Research Laboratories Hospital after testing positive for
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
. Khan died on 10 October 2021, at the age of 85, after being transferred to a hospital in Islamabad with lung problems. He was given a
state funeral A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...
at the
Faisal Mosque The Faisal Mosque () is the national mosque of Pakistan, located in the capital city, Islamabad. It is the List of largest mosques, sixth-largest mosque in the world, the largest mosque outside the Middle East, and the largest within South Asia ...
before being buried at the H-8 graveyard in Islamabad.{{cite news , title=Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan given state funeral, laid to rest in Islamabad , url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1651191/nuclear-scientist-dr-abdul-qadeer-khan-given-state-funeral-laid-to-rest-in-islamabad , work=Dawn , date=10 October 2021 , access-date=10 October 2021 , archive-date=11 October 2021 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211011031052/https://www.dawn.com/news/1651191/nuclear-scientist-dr-abdul-qadeer-khan-given-state-funeral-laid-to-rest-in-islamabad , url-status=live The Prime Minister of Pakistan,
Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...
, expressed grief over his death in a tweet adding that "for the people of Pakistan he was a national icon". President of Pakistan Arif Alvi also expressed sadness adding that "a grateful nation will never forget his services".


Legacy

During his time in the atomic bomb project, Khan pioneered research in the
thermal quantum field theory In theoretical physics, thermal quantum field theory (thermal field theory for short) or finite temperature field theory is a set of methods to calculate expectation values of physical observables of a quantum field theory at finite temperature. I ...
and
condensed matter physics Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid State of matter, phases, that arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms and elec ...
, while he co-authored articles on chemical reactions of the highly unstable isotope particles in the controlled physical system. He maintained his stance of the use of controversial technological solutions to both military and civilian problems, including the use of military technologies for civilian welfare. Khan also remained a vigorous advocate for a nuclear testing program and defence strength through nuclear weapons. He justified Pakistan's nuclear deterrence program as sparing his country the fate of Iraq or Libya.{{Cite web , title=Nuclear capability saved Pakistan , work=Geo Television Network (GTN) , date=17 May 2011 , url=http://www.geo.tv/5-17-2011/81448.htm , access-date=8 December 2011 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520233510/http://www.geo.tv/5-17-2011/81448.htm , archive-date=20 May 2011 In an interview in 2011, Khan maintained his stance on
peace through strength "Peace through strength" is a phrase that suggests that military power can help preserve peace. It has been used by many leaders from Roman Emperor Hadrian in the second century AD to former US President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. The concept h ...
and vigorously defended the nuclear weapons program as part of the deterrence policy: {{blockquote, text= kistan's motivation for nuclear weapons arose from a need to prevent "nuclear blackmail" by India. Had Iraq and Libya been nuclear powers, they wouldn't have been destroyed in the way we have seen recently. ... If (Pakistan) had an tomiccapability before 1971, we akistaniswould not have lost half of our country after a disgraceful defeat. , sign=Abdul Qadeer Khan, statement on 16 May 2011, published in ''Newsweek'' During his work on the nuclear weapons program and onwards, Khan faced heated and intense criticism from his fellow theorists, most notably Pervez Hoodbhoy who contested his scientific understanding in quantum physics.{{Cite web , last=Hoodbhoy , first=Pervez , title=Bombs, Missiles and Pakistani Science: The Chaghi tests, and more recent Ghauri-II and Shaheen-I missile launches, have been deemed heroic symbols of high scientific achievement... Are they? , publisher=Chowk.com , date=4 May 1999 , url=http://www.chowk.com/Views/Science/Bombs-Missiles-and-Pakistani-Science , access-date=2 October 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103062934/http://www.chowk.com/Views/Science/Bombs-Missiles-and-Pakistani-Science , archive-date=3 January 2011 In addition, Khan's false claims that he was the "father" of the atomic bomb project since its inception and his personal attacks on
Munir Ahmad Khan Munir Ahmad Khan (; 20 May 1926 – 22 April 1999), , was a Pakistani nuclear engineer who is credited, among others, with being the "father of the atomic bomb program" of Pakistan for their leading role in developing their nation's nuclear we ...
caused even greater animosity from his fellow theorists, and most particularly, within the general physics community, such as the Pakistan Physics Society.{{Cite web , work=International Institute for Strategic Studies , title=Bhutto was father of Pakistan's Atom Bomb Program , year=2006 , url=http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-in-the-press/press-coverage-2007/may-2007/bhutto-was-father-of-pakistani-bomb/?locale=en , access-date=2 October 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314025504/http://www.iiss.org/whats-new/iiss-in-the-press/press-coverage-2007/may-2007/bhutto-was-father-of-pakistani-bomb/?locale=en , archive-date=14 March 2012 Various motivations have been cited for Khan's role in the proliferation of nuclear weapons. According to the editor-in-chief of ''
Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...
'', Moisés Naím, although his actions were certainly ideological or political in nature, Khan's motives remain essentially financial. This is evidenced, according to him, by his commercial maneuvers, his presence in North Korean trade as well as his real estate ownerships. For instance, Khan owned the Hendrina Khan Hotel in
Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; ; Koyra Chiini: ; ) is an ancient city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. It is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali, having a population of 32,460 in the 2018 census. ...
, named after his wife. It was one of dozens of his commercial enterprises. To build his hotel in Timbuktu, he reportedly used a
Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...
C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...
transport aircraft in the early 2000s to transport carved wooden furniture. The plane landed at Tripoli Airport in Libya and the cargo was then taken to Timbuktu by road as it was unable to land in Mali. Khan himself accompanied the furniture from Islamabad. His wife, two daughters and brother Abdul Quyuim Khan were all named in the
Panama Papers The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...
in 2016 as owners of Wahdat Ltd., an
offshore company The term "offshore company" or "offshore corporation" is used in at least two distinct and different ways. An offshore company may be a reference to: * a company, group or sometimes a division thereof, which engages in offshoring business proce ...
registered in the Bahamas. Bruno Tertrais, a senior researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research states: "Khan's motivations were complex and evolving (...) The primary motivation seems to have been to ensure the legitimacy of his role in building Pakistan's nuclear force (...) The second motivation, which has become more important over time, is personal enrichment. Finally, the third important element of varying importance depending on the hypothesis: Khan's more or less diffuse desire to see other Muslim countries access nuclear power." In spite of the proliferation controversy and his volatile personality, Khan remained a popular public figure and has been as a symbol of national pride with many in Pakistan who see him as a national hero.{{cite journal , last=Bernstein , first=Jeremy , author-link=Jeremy Bernstein , title=He Changed History , journal=The New York Review of Books , date=28 May 2009 , volume=56 , issue=6 , url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/apr/09/he-changed-history/ , access-date=2 October 2016 , archive-date=15 September 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915214926/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/apr/09/he-changed-history/ , url-status=live While Khan has been bestowed with many medals and honours by the federal government and universities in Pakistan, Khan also remains the only citizen of Pakistan to have been honoured twice with the
Nishan-e-Imtiaz The Nishan-e-Imtiaz (; ) is one of the state organized Civil decorations of Pakistan, civil decorations of Pakistan. It is awarded for achievements towards world recognition for Pakistan or outstanding service for the country. However, the awa ...
. {{Col-begin{{Col-break, width=50% *
Nishan-e-Imtiaz The Nishan-e-Imtiaz (; ) is one of the state organized Civil decorations of Pakistan, civil decorations of Pakistan. It is awarded for achievements towards world recognition for Pakistan or outstanding service for the country. However, the awa ...
(1999) *Nishan-e-Imtiaz (1996) *
Hilal-e-Imtiaz The ''Hilal-e-Imtiaz'' (; ), also spelled as ''Hilal-i-Imtiaz,'' is the second-highest (in the order of "Imtiaz") Awards and decorations of the Pakistan military, civilian award and honour given to both civilians and military Officer (armed fo ...
(1989) * Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology *60
Gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...
from universities in the country. {{Col-break *
University of Karachi The University of Karachi (; informally Karachi University, KU, or UoK) is a public research university located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Established in June 1951 by an act of Parliament and as a successor to the University of Sindh (which is ...
* Baqai Medical University *
Hamdard University Hamdard University () is a private research university with campuses in Karachi and Islamabad, Pakistan. * Gomal University * University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore {{Col-end


Publications


Selected research papers and patents


Nuclear and material physics

* Dilation investigation of metallic phase transformation in 18% Ni maraging steels, ''Proceedings of the International Conf. on Martensitic Transformations'' (1986), The Japan Institute of Metals, pp. 560–565. * The spread of Nuclear weapons among nations: Militarization or Development, pp. 417–430. (Ref. Nuclear War Nuclear Proliferation and their consequences "Proceedings of the 5th International Colloquium organised by the Group De Bellerive Geneva 27–29 June 1985", Edited by: Sadruddin Aga Khan, Published by Clarendon Press-Oxford 1986). * Flow-induced vibrations in Gas-tube assembly of centrifuges. ''Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology'', 23(9) (September 1986), pp. 819–827. *Dimensional
anisotropy Anisotropy () is the structural property of non-uniformity in different directions, as opposed to isotropy. An anisotropic object or pattern has properties that differ according to direction of measurement. For example, many materials exhibit ve ...
in 18% of maraging steel,{{cite journal , last=Murtaza , first=Ghulam , author2=Zhahour Ahmad , title=Condense Matter Physics , journal=Seven National Symposium on Frontiers in Physics , date=21 November 1998 , volume=7 , series=7 , issue=7 , pages=2/3 , url=http://pps-pak.org/proceedings/Seventh-Proc-1998.pdf , access-date=16 January 2012 , archive-date=31 December 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231215516/http://pps-pak.org/proceedings/Seventh-Proc-1998.pdf , url-status=live Seven National Symposium on Frontiers in Physics, written with Anwar-ul-Haq, Mohammad Farooq, S. Qaisar, published at the Pakistan Physics Society (1998). *
Thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, Work (thermodynamics), work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed b ...
of Non-equilibrium phases in Electron-beam rapid
solidification Freezing is a phase transition in which a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. For most substances, the melting and freezing points are the same temperature; however, certain substances possess dif ...
,{{cite web , title=Frontiers in Physics , url=http://pps-pak.org/proceedings/Second-Proc-1988.pdf , work=13 December 1988 , publisher=Proceedings of the Second National Symposium on Frontiners in Physics , access-date=16 January 2012 , archive-date=23 May 2013 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523000441/http://pps-pak.org/proceedings/Second-Proc-1988.pdf , url-status=live Proceedings of the Second National Symposium on Frontiers in Physics, written with A. Tauqeer, Fakhar Hashmi, publisher Pakistan Physics Society (1988).


Books

* {{Cite book , last=Khan , first=Abdul Qadeer , title=Advances in Physical Metallurgy , publisher= Elsevier Press , year=1972 , location=Amsterdam, Netherlands , language=en, de, nl * {{Cite book , last=Khan , first=Abdul Qadeer , title=Metallurgical Thermodynamics and Kinetics , publisher=The Proceedings of the
Pakistan Academy of Sciences The Pakistan Academy of Sciences () (Abbreviations and Acronyms, abbreviated as: PAS), is a learned society of sciences, which described itself as "a repository of the highest scientific talent available in the country." Established in 1953 in ...
, year=1983 , location=Islamabad, Pakistan , language=en, de, nl * {{Cite book , last1=Khan , first1=Abdul Qadeer , first2=Syed Shabbir , last2=Hussain , first3=Mujahid , last3=Kamran , author-link3=Mujahid Kamran , title=Dr. A.Q. Khan on science and education , publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publications , year=1997 , location=Islamabad, Pakistan , isbn=978-969-35-0821-5


See also

* Dr. A. Q. Khan Institute of Computer Sciences and Information Technology * Dr. A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories *
Pakistani missile research and development program The Hatf Program () was a classified program by the Ministry of Defence Pakistan, Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Pakistan for the comprehensive research and development of Missile, guided missiles. Initiatives began in 1986-87 and received supp ...
* Conservatism in Pakistan * Nuclear espionage *
Nuclear arms race The nuclear arms race was an arms race competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War. During this same period, in addition to the American and Soviet nuc ...
* ''
Nuclear Secrets ''Nuclear Secrets'', aka ''Spies, Lies and the Superbomb'', is a 2007 BBC Television docudrama series which looks at the race for nuclear supremacy from the Manhattan Project through to Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme. Production The seri ...
'', 2007 documentary series about the nuclear race and proliferation including Khan's role therein * Anwar Ali (physicist), Pakistani physicist charged with nuclear proliferation * Peter Finke, German physicist in the nuclear weapons programme of Pakistan


Notes

{{Notelist


References


Citations

{{Reflist


Bibliography

{{refbegin * Burr, William. "The 'Labors of Atlas, Sisyphus, or Hercules'? US Gas-Centrifuge Policy and Diplomacy, 1954–60." ''The International History Review'' 37.3 (2015): 431–457. *{{Cite book , last=Khan , first=Abdul Qadeer , contribution=Sehar Honay Tak: Dr. A.Q. Khan gave us the sense of security, Javed Hashmi. , pages=1–158, editor-last=Khan , editor-first=Abdul Qadeer, title=Sehar Honay Tak , location=Islamabad, Pakistan , year=2010 , publisher=Ali Masud books{{clarify, reason=Khan is author and editor and subject? WP:RS?, date=February 2022 *{{Cite book , last=Upadhyaya , first=Gopal S. , contribution=Dr. A.Q. Khan of Pakistan , pages=138–140, title=Men of Metals and Materials: My Memoires , location=Bloomington, IN , year=2011 , publisher=iUniverse.com *{{Cite book , last=Rahman , first=Shahid , contribution=Dr. A. Q. Khan: Nothing Succeed like Success , pages=49–60, editor-last=Rahman , editor-first=Shahid, title=Long Road to Chagai , location=Islamabad, Pakistan , year=1998 , isbn=969-8500-00-6 , publisher=Printwise publication *{{Cite book , last=Fitzpatrick , first=Mark , contribution=Dr. A. Q. Khan and the rise and fall of proliferation network , title=Nuclear black markets , location=London, UK , year=2007 , isbn=978-0-86079-201-7 , publisher=International Institute for Strategic Studies *{{Cite book , last=Kan , first=Shirley A. , contribution=A.Q. Khan's nuclear network , pages=5–6 , title=China and Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missiles: Policy issues , location=Washington, DC , publisher=Congressional Research Service , year=2009 *{{Cite book , contribution=A.Q. Khan and the nuclear market , editor-last=Cooney , editor-first=Thomas E. , editor2-last=Denny , editor2-first=David Anthony , pages=30–33 , title=E=mc2: Today's Nuclear Equation , location=Washington, DC: United States , year=2005 , isbn= , publisher=Judith S. Seagal{{clarify, reason=So who is the publisher? Seagal or US Dept. of State?, date=February 2022 *{{cite book , last1=Bernstein , first1=Jeremy , title=Physicists on Wall Street and other essays on science and society , date=2008 , publisher=Springer , location=New York , isbn=978-0-387-76506-8 {{Refend Web links {{Col-begin{{Col-break, width=50%
Annotated bibliography for A.Q. Khan
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714213711/http://alsos.wlu.edu/qsearch.aspx?browse=people%2FKhan%2C+Abdul+Qadeer , date=14 July 2007

*{{cite news , title=The Wrath of Khan , date=November 2005 , publisher=The Atlantic Monthly , url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200511/aq-khan

Federation of American Scientists The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1945 by a group of scient ...
. *{{cite news , title=Unraveling the A. Q. Khan and Future Proliferation Networks , date=Spring 2005 , publisher=The Washington Quarterly , url=http://www.twq.com/05spring/index.cfm?id=147 , access-date=30 April 2005 , archive-date=7 April 2005 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050407114729/http://www.twq.com/05spring/index.cfm?id=147 {{Col-break *{{cite news , title=Tracking the technology , work=Nuclear Engineering International , url=http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?sectioncode=76&storyCode=2024442 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041227180006/http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?sectioncode=76&storyCode=2024442 , archive-date=27 December 2004 *{{cite news , title=BBC profile , publisher=BBC , url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3343621.stm *{{cite news , title=Pakistan's Nuclear Father, Master Spy , publisher=MSNBC , url=http://www.msnbc.com/news/765161.asp{{dead link, date=December 2017 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
British Reporter Adrian Levy: The United States Secretly Helped Pakistan Build Its Nuclear Arsenal
*{{cite news , title=Are-Pakistani-Ahmadis-Loyal-to-their-Homeland , publisher=Pakistani Tribune , url=http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/13526/are-pakistani-ahmadis-loyal-to-their-homeland/ {{Col-end


External links

* {{Official, https://web.archive.org/web/20190710023836/http://www.draqkhan.com.pk/
Abdul Quadeer Khan
at the
Pakistan Academy of Sciences The Pakistan Academy of Sciences () (Abbreviations and Acronyms, abbreviated as: PAS), is a learned society of sciences, which described itself as "a repository of the highest scientific talent available in the country." Established in 1953 in ...

Prof. Abdul Qadeer Khan
at the Islamic Academy of Sciences
Why He Went Nuclear
by Douglas Frantz and Catherine Collins Written by Abdul Qadeer Khan
Heart disease Random thoughts
11 June 2012
More on thalassemia
4 June 2012
Memorable Karachi
28 May 2012
Great expectations
14 May 2012
Mass graves
30 April 2012
I saved my country
1 November 2012 Online books *{{cite book , author=Scott-Clark, Adrian Levy & Catherine , title=Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the secret trade in nuclear weapons , year=2007 , publisher=Walker & Co. , location=New York , isbn=978-0-8027-1554-8 , edition=1st , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/deceptionpakista00levy *{{cite book , author=Upadhyaya, Gopal S. , title=Men of metals and materials: my memoirs , publisher=iUniverse , location=Bloomington, IN , isbn=978-1-4620-1840-6 , page=138 , chapter=Dr. A.Q. Khan of Pakistan , date=1 May 2011 {{s-start {{s-gov {{s-bef, before = Ishfaq Ahmad {{s-ttl, title= Science Advisor to the Presidential Secretariat , years =1 January 2001 – 31 January 2004 {{s-aft, after= Atta ur Rahman , - {{s-end {{Project-706 {{Pakistanspaceagency {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Abdul Qadeer 1936 births 2021 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Islamabad People from Bhopal State Indian emigrants to Pakistan Muhajir people D. J. Sindh Government Science College alumni University of Karachi alumni Pakistani physicists Engineers from Karachi 20th-century Pakistani engineers Pakistani expatriates in Germany Pakistani expatriates in the Netherlands Delft University of Technology alumni Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology Pakistani expatriates in Belgium Catholic University of Leuven alumni Theoretical chemists Pakistani metallurgists Project-706 people Pakistani nuclear physicists Weapons scientists and engineers Materials scientists and engineers Pakistani inventors Pakistani spies Scientists from Islamabad Founders of Pakistani schools and colleges Academic staff of Hamdard University Fellows of Pakistan Academy of Sciences Theoretical physicists Academic staff of Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz Recipients of Nishan-e-Imtiaz Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission people Recipients of Pakistani presidential pardons Pakistani memoirists Pakistani technology writers Pakistani textbook writers Pakistani columnists Members of the Pakistan Philosophical Congress Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan Nuclear proliferation Nuclear weapons scientists and engineers Presidents of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences Scientists from Karachi