THIS is with reference to the article “Pakistan’s winding road to the bomb” (EOS, Jan 11), which comprised excerpts from Farhatullah Babar’s book Beyond the Bomb: Munir Ahmad Khan and Pakistan’s Nuclear Odyssey. The excerpts remained focused exclusively on Munir Ahmad Khan and missed some important details.

After being appointed chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Munir Ahmad Khan gathered a team of scientists, led by Dr Abdus Salam, Prof Riazuddin and Prof Fayyazuddin. All these three members were theoretical physicists. This team soon started ‘theoretical’ work on a plutonium-based model. Then, unrelated but significant events started taking shape which had critical influence on what the trio of scientists were trying to accomplish.

The historic Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan was passed on Sept 7, 1974. Dr Abdus Salam got angry with Bhutto over this development, aban-doned the project along with his hand-picked team of scientists, and left Pakistan with the intention of settling abroad.

It was at this stage and against this specific backdrop that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan came to Pakistan and Bhutto immediately handed over the charge of the project to him. Dr A.Q. Khan brought with him a valuable relevant experience of metallurgy and uranium enrichment, which was vital for this project, and which was precisely what the team of theoretical physicists constituted by Munir Ahmad Khan had no practical experience of.

Dr A.Q. Khan succeeded in developing a uranium-based device, taking Pakistan at least 10 years ahead of India in the field of nuclear technology. Later, forces working against this project succeeded in their nefarious designs, and the way Dr A.Q. Khan was treated later in life by the government of Pakistan was an extremely shameful and painful episode that agitates the nation’s mind even today.

Abid Mahmud Ansari
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2026