Musharraf working on US agenda of breaking up Pakistan: Dr Khan

President Pervez Musharraf is working on the US agenda of dismembering <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Pakistan by 2015, a news agency quoted renowned Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

It quoted Dr Khan as having told an Urdu-language weekly published from New York in a telephonic interview that Musharraf is doing whatever the US wants. He said the US plans to break up Pakistan by 2015. Bitterly criticising the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said it is not an international organisation but belongs to the Americans and Jews and he is not bound to appear before the IAEA.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

According to the report circulated by Islamabad-based South Asian News Agency, Dr Khan said that Libya is lying because Tripoli did not get anything from Islamabad. He said they purchased nuclear plans from the person from whom Pakistan had purchased nuclear hardware. He said he admitted it not because of any fear but in the interest of the country. He said at that time he was told that if he did not accept allegations, the country might be bombed.

Dr Khan, who is respected as national hero in Pakistan but is under detention for the past few years, said that now it is time to show the real picture to the nation because the other side is spreading false things one after another. He said that his report would not remain hidden like the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report because he has told each and everything to his family and the nation would soon know the truth.

About threat to his life, Dr Khan said he is a true Muslim and believes that life and death is from Almighty Allah, therefore, he is not afraid of death. About procurement of conventional weapons by Pakistan despite having nuclear weapons, he said it has no value as compared to the nuclear weapons and is being bought just to receive commissions. In this regard, he referred to construction of flyovers in Karachi and said that in the areas inhibited by the poor there are big potholes all around. When big projects are executed, he added, these are meant to receive commissions.

Commenting on personality of Benazir Bhutto, Dr Khan said she was a wise woman and had she been alive, the situation would have been different now. He feared that she might have been eliminated because she had announced to investigate the affairs of the nuclear programme.

About Nawaz Sharif, Dr Khan said he is a brave person and remains committed to whatever he says. Regarding Asif Zardari, widower of late Bhutto who is now playing the role of kingmaker in Pakistan, Dr Khan said that he does not know much about him. He profusely praised Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and said he is a great person. About his oath under the PCO (Provisional Constitutional Order), Dr Khan recalled that some companions of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) were non-believers before embracing Islam but they cannot be remembered as non-believers.

Another news agency, Online, based in the Pakistan capital quoted Dr Khan as saying that Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by those very elements that were responsible for forcing him to confess smuggling of nuclear plans. He said the persons who did not see Pakistan at the time of its independence are opposing Pakistan’s nuclear programme. He disclosed that Israel had once been warned of destruction of Tel Aviv if it ever tried to attack Pakistan.

Both the news agencies, however, did not mention name of the New York-based magazine that published interview of the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb.