ISLAMABAD: Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan opted for a conditional pardon instead of facing a trial in the proliferation case, said Director-General Strategic Plans Division (SPD) Lt Gen (retd) Khalid Kidwai here on Saturday.

“Any neutral body of people can be presented with evidence but it should be in-camera,” Kidwai offered.

However, he said the AQ Khan case was now before the Islamabad High Court and the government would be ready to lay solid evidence to prove Khan’s guilt in the proliferation case.

Kidwai said all the facts were established and this evidence could be shared with a neutral body of people, may that be parliamentarians, jurists or others except the media. “The country has been damaged with Khan’s statements,” he said.

In a marathon briefing to a select group of what he called ‘patriotic journalists’ here at the SPD in a cordoned off sensitive area, Kidwai unfolded detailed information and the background related to top nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer’s case.

The Khan case surfaced in 2000 after a spell of proliferation and discovery of suspicious activities on the part of the head of the Khan Research Laboratories, popularly known as KRL.

Dr Khan was the undisputed king of KRL and he was given a free hand to do whatever he liked without any outside interference, as he had established his own security network before institutions like the National Command Authority (NCA), SPD and others were created to deal with such matters.

The briefing was preceded by a spate of statements by angry an Dr Khan who said so many things with regard to transfer of centrifuges to North Korea and attempted to link President Musharraf, the then Army chief, and the Army in so many words.

“It is absolutely wrong and I deny it. Dr Khan has attempted to say one thing and contradict another,” said Kidwai.

Recounting events and the period of proliferation in the context of Libya, Iran and North Korea, he said after suspicion turned into a strong case based on evidence, Dr Khan was removed as head of the KRL.

He said the US investigated North Korea and IAEA investigated Iran and many things were established as “truth” in the context of involvement of individuals and not Pakistan as a state.

He said the pardon granted to Dr Khan was sought on a voluntary basis after 10 sessions he, along with former DG ISI, held with him. “We did no facilitation, as Dr Khan voluntarily opted for pardon after a public confession instead of facing trial,” he added.

Kidwai, who handled the Khan case from the beginning though the period of proliferation did not relate to his period of service at the SPD, said Khan made the admission voluntarily, escaping the trial. “There was no deal, no go-between like SM Zafar or Ch Shujaat.”

Kidwai claimed that after preparing a pardon draft by the NCA on the insistence of Khan, he begged to get a pardon for him from the president. “When we informed the president, he told us that it was not personal but a national matter and should be dealt with accordingly,” he said. “The draft pardon was amended on two places where Khan inserted words and improved the language as well,” he said. “And finally after three days of negotiations he voluntarily appeared on TV to confess.”

Kidwai claimed Khan broke down in the last two sessions when the entire evidence was produced before him and he begged pardon, which was later granted in the spirit not to humiliate him but to isolate him from those involved in proliferation.

The DG SPD said the pardon was conditional on two counts: First, he would not commit any breach of national security, and two, if any other evidence or any other country emerges in this case, the granted pardon would be reviewed. “The government took all the flak and now the present government is grappling with the issue.”

He said all the statements of Khan that he tendered public apology under coercion, or through a deal or for the sake of taking the blame on his shoulders are far from truth and reality.

He said he was neither jailed nor confined in custody but purely for the sake of his security, his movement was restricted. He cited many examples in which the government eased out these restrictions by allowing him to visit Karachi, hotels, or some institutions and provided a cell-phone to him and incurred a heavy amount on his health care at the Aga Khan Hospital, Karachi.

The security at his residence, he said, was tightened because of manifold international or local threats, including during the time of the Lal Masjid operation, as Jamia Faridia was located near his residence.

He said it was obligatory to break up the proliferation network and simultaneously keep Dr Khan under tight security. “Threats are still coming, even up to four days earlier.”

Despite all this, he was allowed to visit many places, returned visits to friends and family members and it was our professional judgment not to ease out security around him. “Except those involved in proliferation, he was allowed to meet people listed by him.”

Kidwai emphasised tight security around Khan and said it was all justified. “Now, he is giving interviews containing offensive statements in which he tried to prove everybody guilty except him.”

He said he had given away more than 20 interviews to international agencies and now we had told him not to do so. “Khan wanted total freedom without security, but we have to do some balancing act, both internationally and nationally.”

He confirmed that the Islamabad High Court had directed Khan in certain ways to refrain, as the government would accept the court verdict wholeheartedly.

Brushing aside many questions and parrying many in the name of sensitive information, Kidwai said that a strong case against Khan was established when ISI raided Chaklala Airport to see a consignment allegedly containing centrifuges.

“The consignment did not reach the point because of leakage of the information, but it was stored in an air-conditioning factory, though later four to five boxes were recovered from there and these all contained centrifuges, meant for uranium enrichment,” said Maj Gen Bilal, the second-in-command at the SPD.

To a question, Kidwai said the designing, manufacturing and testing of nuclear bomb was not done by Khan but he was part of the overall team work as he got expertise on two counts only. “Well, we do not recognise any parentage with such things like father or mother of bomb,” said Kidwai.

He said the ISI had no ingress, though he said above-board agreements on some matters did take place with North Korea.

He ruled out any possibility of nuclear weapons taking over by fundamentalists, and said the international propaganda on this count was baseless. “Our enemies are now enjoying such things coming up as they want to malign Pakistan.”

He rejected claims by Khan that the Army or the president sent centrifuges to North Korea in 2000.

“There had been no involvement by the Army, the president, in the transfer of centrifuges,” said Kidwai. “Technically, yes it happened in his (President Musharraf) tenure, but giving an impression that he or the Army was aware or supervised it is wrong. I categorically term it a big wrong stated by Khan.”

Kidwai confirmed a dozen centrifuges were sent to North Korea by Khan Network in 2000 and one was sent several years earlier. He said no demand of access to Khan had been received from abroad.

Kidwai said if anybody abroad was making a contingency plan, then Pakistan would also make its contingency plan. “It is irresponsible to say that a foreign country is making a contingency plan.”

He said Pakistan could not allow anybody to interfere in its business, as such a scenario was not possible in Pakistan.

“Presently, we are not reviewing the pardon granted to Khan but would provide information to the court if it seeks,” said the DG SPD. “Let the court decide the matter,” he said.