‘Dr Khan case still open’

Published April 28, 2007

LONDON, April 27: The case of Pakistan is not yet closed, declares a dossier entitled Nuclear Blackmarkets: Pakistan, A.Q. Khan and the Rise of Proliferation Networks –A Net Assessment scheduled to be released on Wednesday.

Prepared by the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), a leading UK-based think tank, the dossier, according to an IISS announcement on Friday, has explored the question whether A.Q. Khan sold North Korea and Iran the weapons designs that he had sold to Libya and “apparently offered to Iraq”.

Stating that the technology that Dr Khan and his associates sold to North Korea and Iran had sparked crises that continued to threaten international security, the IISS announcement further said the dossier would provide a compelling history of ‘the global enterprise run by A.Q. Khan’.

“The dossier details how Pakistan developed a nuclear weapons capability in ten years after Khan brought stolen technology for the enrichment of uranium from the Netherlands. Though the Pakistani government put Khan out of business and reformed its nuclear command and control mechanisms, many people consider that the case is not yet closed.”

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