(Abdul Qadeer Khan with President Musharraf.)
Dina Khan, the daughter of the disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan, has criticised claims made by President Pervez Musharraf in his autobiography, says the BBC.
“In her first statement since her father’s arrest in 2004, said she wanted to set the record straight.
“Dr Khan was put under house arrest after admitting passing nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
“In his book, President Musharraf said that Dr Khan sent a letter to his daughter, Dina, asking her to ‘go public on Pakistan’s nuclear secrets’ through British journalists.
“Now, Dina Khan has hit back. In a statement provided to the BBC, she says that Gen Musharraf’s claims are ‘ludicrous’.
“Dina Khan also says she was questioned by the British security service MI5 about the document but they were satisfied she had not committed any crimes and was not in possession of any important information.”
While you can read the rest of the story at the BBC website, the million dollar question is why the US and the CIA are tackling the whole issue with soft gloves.
The Father of the Islamic Bomb, now under house arrest in Pakistan, “knows a lot of secrets about the country, including who at the top might have known about his illicit activities passing on technology.
“It has long been assumed that one of the reasons he has never been put on trial – or interrogated by the CIA – was because of who he might be able to implicate.”
So the case becomes curiouser and curiouser. Now the daughter of the Father of the Islamic bomb fears for the life of her father. If something happens to AQ Khan then the mystery and the dirty deals would then be buried along with him.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.