The Pakistani media alleges that the release of Dr A.Q. Khan from his house arrest is meant to comply with a widely popular demand and also to demonstrate to the Pakistani public that the Zardari government is not subservient to the US. It has also highlighted that, of the two popular demands — release of Khan from house arrest and restoration of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to office — the Zardari government found it more expedient to comply with the first one.

There is also speculation that this was timed to coincide with the visit of Richard Holbrooke, special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan. It could signify the likely Pakistani resistance to American demands to intensify its military operations against the militants, or the present defiance may be used to cover up Pakistani compliance with US demands. It is not quite clear how Pakistan proposes to use this act of defiance to its advantage in the days to come. There is no doubt, however, that this release of Khan after a secret agreement with the government is a carefully planned step in Pakistan’s strategy.

First, it is meant as a rebuff to the US, especially to the Bush administration, which swallowed General Musharraf’s story that Khan was solely responsible for Pakistani proliferation and the successive governments and army chiefs of Pakistan had nothing to do with that activity. With the high court publicly declaring that the case of proliferation against Khan had not been substantiated and by allowing him, a pardoned self-confessed proliferator, to conclude a secret agreement with the government, the present Pakistani administration has deliberately absolved Khan of the charges leveled against him by the Musharraf regime and has also called into question the entire version put out by the Pakistani government in 2004. By getting a judicial verdict that the charges against Khan are not substantiated, the Zardari administration has exposed the gullibility of President Bush, the rest of the US administration and various prestigious think-tanks. It is also a timely reminder to India and the rest of the international community of the kind of games Pakistan can play on the 26/11 terrorist dossier.

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