“Nuclear Jihad,” a new documentary by the Canadian film maker Julian Sher, focuses on the nuclear-proliferation activities of A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani engineer who made Pakistan a nuclear power and quietly helped spread nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea, and Libya, says Nikola Krastev in Radio Free Europe.
The documentary states that David Sanger and William Broad, well-known investigative reporters for “The New York Times,” have written several articles exposing Khan’s global nuclear-proliferation network and building a case that despite Khan’s isolation, his enterprise offers a viable model for aspiring rogue regimes or terrorists.
” ‘What is uncertain here is not only which countries purchased [the technology], but what’s left of the network, even with the head cut off? Clearly there are a lot of elements of the network that can operate by themselves, and we have still seen Iranians, for example, importing a fair bit of goods from around Europe.’ says David Sanger.
Sanger and Broad conclude that Khan’s legacy is far-reaching. There is no reason to believe, they say, that his supposedly dead enterprise cannot be brought back to life elsewhere. They say there is a market for it, and the technology to do it, out there, and anyone who is enterprising and motivated enough to put it all together just may.
So why is the U.S. Administration keeping quite on this issue? Or for that matter the entire Europe…and, ironically, India too!!! Does everyone fear that many a skeletons would tumble out of the cuboard???
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.