Reopening of AQ Khan chapter: intriguing timing

ISLAMABAD: US Congress is reopening the Dr A. Q. Khan nuclear network chapter that Pakistan declared early this month stood closed as far as it was concerned. The House of Representatives Committee on International Relations will hold this week an open Hearing of its Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Non-proliferation on the controversial A. Q. Khan market network. The timing of the hearing is intriguing as it is significant.

The subject of the Hearing ‘The A. Q. Khan Network: Case Closed?’ appears to challenge Pakistan government’s declaration about the chapter having been closed.

Pakistan maintains that it has conducted thorough investigations into the issue and shared information and conclusions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and relevant countries including the United States. The two witnesses at the hearing, Mr David Albright, president and founder of the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington, and Dr Leonard Weiss, a private consultant, have worked extensively on non-proliferation issues.

Albright, a physicist, is a former UN weapon inspector who has written numerous assessments on secret nuclear weapons programmes throughout the world. He has testified several times on nuclear issues before the Congress. A genuine non-proliferationist, he has been critical of the Indo-US deal and has also written widely on A. Q. Khan. Apparently most of the detailed information came from him making it quite clear that he had government sources. His position, like that of many non-proliferationists in the US, has been that US and IAEA must have access to A. Q. Khan and that the network is not yet extinct and more information is needed from A. Q. Khan. That the government of Pakistan cannot be relied upon to provide that information.

Dr Weiss was the chief architect of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Act of 1978 when he was staff director of the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Energy and Nuclear Proliferation.

Pakistan has been under constant pressure from the US government to provide direct access to Dr A. Q. Khan for questioning by American officials. However, Pakistan has repeatedly ruled it out, saying whatever questions are required to be asked could be forwarded to the government and it would obtain the answers and relay them.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri told the Senate on Friday that Pakistan had not succumbed to the US pressure on Dr A. Q. Khan and had refused to surrender him for non-Pakistani interrogation. While reiterating that Pakistan could share information on alleged nuclear proliferation activities Mr Kasuri said: “We have certain bottom lines. We have some red lines.”

US policy has been seen to be selectively focussed on proliferation as the Indo-US deal indicates. With respect to Pakistan, nuclear proliferation remains one of the key concerns and challenges for the American policy-makers. According to diplomatic sources here, the US establishment has also been lately war-gaming on how to secure Pakistan’s strategic assets and prevent ‘loose nukes’ from falling into ‘wrong hands’ in case of a full-scale war involving the country.

In the recent weeks, pressure has been mounting on Pakistan on the nuclear issue from various US quarters with increasing number of reports on the A. Q. Khan network appearing in the American media. There has been criticism about failure to fully investigate and unravel the network.

A Washington Times story titled ‘Report: Pakistan supplied nukes to Syria’ published on May 13 said US intelligence agencies suspected that Dr A. Q. Khan network offered nuclear technology to Syria and had contacts with other countries as well.

The Foreign Office spokesperson asserted last week that there was nothing new on the A. Q. Khan front at the moment but said Pakistan had made a commitment that if anything new came up, it would investigate and share the results.

The subtle pressures on Pakistan regarding the nuclear issue come at a time when Pakistan has taken a strong position on the Iranian nuclear issue, supporting Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear technology and opposing sanctions or military action against it.

Also, they coincide with two important issues. One, US government’s effort to push for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote on the Indo-US nuclear deal which is facing stiff opposition there and has been openly criticised by Islamabad. Two, the Bush administration’s moving a request for sale of F-16 aircraft to Pakistan in the US Congress which is required to clear the deal.

The hearing in the A. Q. Khan matter may also help to divert attention from the Indo-US nuclear deal and blunt criticism of it by the non-proliferation lobbies within the US. The deal has raised many questions about US commitment to the objectives of non-proliferation.

Apparently in another step in this direction, the US on Thursday presented to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva a draft global treaty to ban future production of fissile material. Observers see it is a non-starter and say it is meant merely to appease the non-proliferation lobbies.