A Q Khan forced to make false confession: wife

In an interview carried in the German news magazine Der Spiegel, Hendrina has said that A Q Khan always worked under Government orders and made two trips to North Korea, including one in 2000, on the specific request of General Musharraf.

Giving an account of her husband’s role in Pakistan’s nuclear program, she has said that while visits to North Korea — where he was said to have shipped centrifuge tubes used to enrich uranium — were made on government authorization, her husband never visited Iran or Libya or took part in any deal with the countries.

Hendrina has said that Khan made the false confession as he is a ‘great patriot’ and wanted to save Pakistan from humiliation in the international community. She says that while Khan kept his side of the bargain, promises made to him by the Musharraf regime, including the right to travel within Pakistan, were not met.

Hendrina, who married Khan in 1964, says that the Army was in the know about the scientist’s dealings with North Korea and his entire research project was under the scrutiny of the Strategic Planning Division.

Contesting Musharraf’s statement in his autobiography — In the Line of Fire — that alleged that the proliferation activities were ‘completely and entirely’ run by A Q Khan, Hendrina has said that the memoirs are false and can be verified by documentation available at the KRL firm that is based in Rawalpindi.

“For the concerned government, it is of course too late today to admit or to confess everything. The consequences for the country would be too drastic, especially from the Americans who have been supporting Musharraf through thick and thin,” she says, adding that while the government and the Army knows who “profited” from the business with Libya and North Korea, divulging names would be “taking too much of a risk”.

Khan’s wife says that he was not even given a chance to clear his name against the “outright lies” of Musharraf and fears that he will die without coming out with his version of the events.

“In any case, the Pakistani security forces will do everything in their might to prevent the truth from ever coming out. Most of all, I fear they will keep my husband under these conditions until the day he dies,” Hendrina says.