Attempt to kill AQ Khan, secret plan with India..., why Israel failed to stop Pakistan from making nuclear bomb?
Attempt to kill AQ Khan, secret plan with India…, why Israel failed to stop Pakistan from making nuclear bomb?
Islamabad: The Israel-Iran war conflict started when Tel Aviv launched an airstrike on Tehran on June 13, stating that the Middle Eastern country was making a nuclear warhead. The United States also joined the war and destroyed nuclear bases in Iran. The US and Israel stated that they would not let Iran acquire a nuclear bomb under any circumstances. Apart from Iran, Israel has also been expressing concern over Pakistan possessing a nuclear bomb. This tension is not new. In the 1970s, when Pakistan started developing a nuclear bomb, Israel's concerns began to grow. To stop the project, Tel Aviv even tried to eliminate nuclear physicist Abdul Qadeer Khan and planned an airstrike, but both attempts failed.
As per a report by Middle East Eye, Israel made several attempts to stop Pakistan's nuclear project. These attempts included assassination attempts and bombing Pak's nuclear sites in collaboration with India. Former CIA director George Tenet had termed Khan as dangerous as Osama bin Laden. Former head of Israeli intelligence agency Shabtai Shavit had expressed regret over not being able to eliminate Khan. What Proposal Was Placed In Front Of Indira Gandhi?
Back in the 1980s, Israel had proposed to bomb Pakistan's nuclear bases. The then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi approved the proposal but later she backed down. In 1987, when Rajiv Gandhi was the PM, Indian Army Chief General Krishnaswamy Sundarji tried to bomb its Pak's nuclear facilities.
Despite Israel's threat and attacks, AQ Khan in the 1970s led a secret campaign to make an atomic bomb. He made Pakistan a nuclear power. There are reports that states that Khan had shared nuclear technology with Iran, Libya and North Korea. What Did Khan Do After Returning to Pakistan from the Netherlands?
When India successfully conducted its first nuclear weapon test in May 1974, the then Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had said that his country would definitely make a nuclear bomb even if they are hungry.
Pak's hunt for a man for its nuclear ambition ended with scientist AQ Khan. Khan studied in Karachi and Berlin. He was working in Amsterdam for the nuclear fuel company, Urenco.
He left the Netherlands in January 1976, saying that he had received an offer in Pakistan which he could not refuse. He returned to Pakistan and was accused of stealing a blueprint of a uranium centrifuge from the Netherlands. Khan built a lab in Rawalpindi and produced enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. Help Received From America And China
Both the US and China helped Pakistan acquire nuclear weapons. China provided enriched uranium, tritium and even scientists to Pakistan. In 1980s, the US secretly trained Pakistani nuclear scientists and ignored Pak's nuclear program.
In 1990, America stopped economic and military help to Pakistan in protest against the nuclear program. However, by then Pakistan became capable of continuing its nuclear program. The country successfully conducted its test in the Balochistan desert and became the seventh nuclear power in the world.
This made Abdul Qadeer a hero in Pakistan. Khan died in 2021 at the age of 85.
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Hindustan Times
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an hour ago
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