Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

1 0 Frontline Pakistan
The sheer scale of Pakistan’s secret nuclear exports indicates that it
could not have been a rogue operation and points to a deeper level
of complicity. Musharraf had his own reasons for granting Dr Khan
amnesty. The trial of a national hero could have serious political
repercussions and provoke opposition within the military. The risk of
putting the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb in the dock was too high.
Dr Khan knew too much and his trial could have opened a Pandora’s
box and placed Musharraf and his military in a highly embarrassing
position. Musharraf had protected himself and the military by putting
all the blame on one individual.
A major reason cited by the Pakistani leader for not broadening the
investigation to the military, or the government, was that it could have
serious implications for the country. Musharraf cautioned that Pakistan
could face UN sanctions, if official complicity in the transfer of nuclear
technology was established. He warned Pakistani journalists not to
speculate further on the military’s role in peddling nuclear secrets,
saying it would not be in the national interest.
A few days later, in an interview with the Financial Times, President
Musharraf talked about the predicament he had faced dealing with
Dr Khan’s case. ‘It was psychologically a very difficult moment that
I had to deal with, that of a person who has done wrong and that
person happens to be my hero or the nation’s hero for having done
something so great for the nation,’ said General Musharraf. ‘But then,
when you saw reality, I put it that a person who has given birth to
a child of national significance has done things which actually were
trying to kill the child that he gave birth to.’
Apparently, the pardon defused the situation at home and was
accepted by Washington at face value. But the delicate balancing act
did not bring an end to Musharraf’s problems on both domestic and
international fronts. He continued to face a separate confrontation
with the international nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, demanding full
access to Pakistan’s nuclear programme in order to ensure that no
more nuclear secrets were sold to other countries. The US and other
western countries not only wanted to know what had happened in the
past, they also sought reassurance that no nuclear proliferation would
take place in the future.
The stigma of suspected involvement in an international nuclear
black market continues to dog Pakistan. The notion of sharing the
‘bomb’ for ideological reasons, rather than profit, rang particular alarm
bells for the USA. Musharraf’s impressive effort at damage control