A few days ago was Yaum-e-Takbeer on May 28 when Pakistan conducted a nuclear explosion. Many things have been written in this regard on media and social media. One of the phrases became very popular, “Pakistan’s atomic bomb was made by three men – Bhutto, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and Nawaz Sharif. All three were not treated well.”
This was probably a satirical or critical statement on the establishment as Bhutto became the target of General Zia-ul-Haq, Dr Qadeer Khan was forced to confess on TV by General Musharraf to apologize to the people and remained under house arrest for many years while Nawaz Sharif’s government was overthrown by the establishment.
I was talking to a senior journalist the next day, who is very popular in a PML-N stronghold He told me he shared this on social media which was shared by Maryam Nawaz and was then retweeted thousands of times. After hearing this incident, I gently told him that you had excluded another man who played a central role – General Zia-ul-Haq.
There is no doubt that if a list of the main architects of the nuclear programme or the atomic bomb is made, it is not possible to exclude Bhutto from the fact that it was his idea and he permitted Dr Qadeer to come and work in Pakistan. It is clear that until then the only basis for the nuclear programme had been laid, not even the basic infrastructure had been laid for the uranium-based atomic bomb.
When General Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Bhutto and came to power, the nuclear programme was at an early stage and in a way it had not even started. General Zia handed over the full powers to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. The treasury was in the custody of Ghulam Ishaq Khan. General Zia told Ishaq Khan that the funds for the nuclear programme should never run out. Dr Qadeer Khan has himself testified that Ghulam Ishaq Khan cooperated with him immensely and facilitated him in every possible way.
General Zia took advantage of the US involvement in the Afghan resistance movement against Russia and made it a condition of the Americans that they would not talk about Pakistan’s nuclear programme. That’s what the Americans did. Charlie Wilson was a prominent member of the US Congress. He was active during the Afghan war and visited Pakistan several times. Charlie Wilson has made many interesting revelations in his book ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’. The book has been adapted into a film in which actor Tom Hanks plays the lead role.
Charlie Wilson points out that CIA agents deliberately testified before various congressional committees that Pakistan was building an atomic bomb. He feared that the US Senate would ban aid to Pakistan in such a case General Zia would exclude the Americans from the whole game against Russia.
Charlie Wilson narrated an incident in which a CIA officer was to appear at an important Senate hearing. He deliberately arrived so late that he could not be questioned. When the senators stormed in, the CIA officer excused himself by saying that one of my loved ones had died. He even wore a black suit to make his excuse a reality.
Another ingenuity of General Zia’s government was that he used various tactics to give the impression to the CIA and the US government that the atomic bomb could not be made by Pakistanis but they are working on it. The Americans probably presumed that Pakistani experts could never make an atomic bomb, so let them pursue their hobby. Thus the whole plan to build an atomic bomb was completed. Whenever the whole story of making an atomic bomb is told, it is incomplete without mentioning General Zia. We can get Bhutto out of it, not Zia and Dr Qadeer was the father of nuclear programme.
Nawaz Sharif had no role in making the atomic bomb, obviously, he was not in that position. However, the credit for the nuclear explosion goes to Nawaz Sharif. At that time Pakistan was under extraordinary pressure. Nawaz Sharif endured this pressure and made a bold decision to detonate the atomic bomb.
I personally consider it an injustice to say that the establishment was forced to do so or that Majeed Nizami was pressured. It is wrong to say no. The decision to detonate the atomic bomb was taken by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He should also get the main credit.
When it comes to the nuclear program, there are definitely some people who point fingers at Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. It is said that Dr. Qadeer Khan was not a nuclear scientist, he was a metallurgist. Over a thousand people were involved in the nuclear programme but the credit is given to only one person. That Dr Qadeer enriched uranium, which is only 5% of the process of making an atomic bomb, and so on and so forth.
These objections are not valid and are basically based on jealousy of Dr. Qadeer Khan. There are several steps involved in baking bread: kneading the dough, making the dough, turning it over and baking the bread without burning it. These are all important but the most basic job is grinding wheat into flour. This idea came to us because of this bread. Otherwise people would be chewing raw wheat today. Uranium enrichment is, of course, five percent work, but it is the basis or no energy could be generated. Dr Qadeer Khan did the basic work of making the atom bomb. If he hadn’t designed the centrifuges and given them to our engineers and experts, there would be no uranium enrichment.
Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was not a nuclear scientist, he had a PhD in Metallurgy from Germany. He was given a major role in a laboratory in the Netherlands where centrifuges and uranium enrichment were done. He made the best use of his experience and knowledge for Pakistan.
It is a fact that Dr Qadeer was a very good administrator, he had some human weaknesses but he managed the nuclear program with utmost honesty and skill and made a seemingly impossible task possible. Gen Zahid Ali Akbar and Gen Zulfiqar Ali Khan, who worked with him for many years, have testified to this. Renowned nuclear scientist Dr Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood was considered anti-Dr Qadeer Khan in the camp. In a meeting with senior journalists, Dr Bashiruddin Mahmood admitted that in fact the Government College group was strongly opposed to Dr Qadeer. Dr Bashiruddin himself was a graduate of Government College (Ravian), but he said that the prejudice was so great that they could not tolerate the superiority of any outsider.
It is true that Bhutto, Dr Qadeer and Nawaz Sharif had to face trouble at the hands of the establishment at a certain stage of their lives. It is also true that Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were not troubled due to the atomic bomb. Zia used to say there is one grave, but two people. If Bhutto had not gone to his grave, it would have been General Zia’s turn
After the ouster of Nawaz Sharif, the issue of nuclear blasts did not exist at all. He was targeted because of Panama, or at least he was swallowed up by the civil-military conflict. Dr Qadeer Khan suffered because of being part of the nuclear programme. This was very disturbing and tragic for Mohsin-e-Pakistan.
We have to pass on the story of nuclear programme to our next generation. It is the responsibility of our generation to do so honestly. Don’t delete your unwanted characters from the story. It is not fiction, it is the truth of history, which no one can be allowed to change.
