Abdul Kadir Khan

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Abdul Kadir Khan (2017)

Abdul Qadeer Khan , Germanized Abdalkadir Chan , ( Urdu عبد القدیر خان; * April 1, 1936 in Bhopal , British India ) is a Pakistani engineer . He is considered the "father of the Pakistani nuclear program ". In Pakistan and other Islamic countries he is revered as a “ folk hero ”.

Early time

Khan comes from a middle-class Muslim family in Bhopal . In 1952 Khan went to Pakistan. As a mechanical engineering student he attended the University of Karachi , after graduation he went to Germany , where he studied at the Technical University of Berlin and then via the Netherlands, where he studied metallurgy for eight semesters at the Technical University of Delft (Netherlands), to Belgium, where he in 1972 finally received his doctorate from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.

From 1972 to 1976 he worked for the Physical Dynamics Research Laboratory (FDO), a subcontractor of the Dutch branch of the Urenco Group, Ultra-Centrifuge Nederland (UCN), in the UCN facility in Almelo and, thanks to lax security measures, had access to the most advanced centrifuge designs, which enabled him to set up a Pakistani uranium enrichment facility . When India tested its first atomic bomb in 1974 , the government in Pakistan was alarmed and Khan offered to help. In 1975, the US secret service, the CIA, asked the government of the Netherlands to stop investigating Khan on suspicion of nuclear theft. The then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto commissioned Khan after his return in early 1976 to lead the Pakistani nuclear research program.

Stance on nuclear weapons

Khan attributes a peacekeeping function to nuclear weapons.

"Had Iraq and Libya been nuclear powers, they wouldn't have been destroyed in the way we have seen recently. If we had nuclear capability before 1971, we wouldn't have lost half our country after a disgraceful defeat "

“If Iraq and Libya had been nuclear powers, they would not have been destroyed, as we saw recently. If (Pakistan) had had nuclear weapons before 1971, we would not have lost half of our country to a shameful defeat. "

- Abdul Kadir Khan : Newsweek, May 17, 2011

In an interview with Der Spiegel , Khan said:

“I firmly believe that I have done what is best for Pakistan. These nuclear weapons ensure peace - and the motto for them is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I am convinced that because of the nuclear weapons there will never be another war between India and Pakistan. "

- Abdul Kadir Khan : Spiegel, June 27, 2011

Private

He has been married to Hendrina Khan, a Dutch woman (born South African), who he met in The Hague, since 1963. Khan was placed under house arrest by the Pakistani government in 2004 after publicly admitting that he passed his knowledge on to North Korea , Iran and Libya . According to his own statements, he only did so under pressure from the government at the time and the promise to be pardoned afterwards. However, this only happened in 2009.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Carey Sublette: Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan ( en ) The Nuclear Weapon Archive. January 2, 2002. Retrieved July 22, 2008.
  2. ↑ The Netherlands ran nuclear spies . In: Die Zeit , No. 32/2005
  3. ^ 'I saved my country from nuclear blackmail. In: tribune.com.pk. May 17, 2011, accessed May 15, 2020 .
  4. ↑ The interview was conducted by Susanne Koelbl: Pakistan's atomic bomb: "Maybe we are naive, we are not idiots". In: Spiegel Online . June 27, 2011, accessed May 15, 2020 .
  5. ↑ spiegel.de
  6. ↑ sueddeutsche.de
personal data
SURNAME Khan, Abdul Kadir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Khan, Abdul Qadeer; Chan, Abdalkadir; عبد القدیر خان (Urdu)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Pakistani engineer
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Bhopal , India