LONDON: Former president General (r) Pervaiz Musharraf Wednesday claimed that it was the most disappointing day of his life when the director of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) showed him proof of nuclear proliferation by Pakistani physicist and nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.
In an interview to a private news channel, the former president said Dr Khan, in a meeting with him, “apologised and asked for his help”. The former president said he told the nuclear scientist to let him deal with the situation and inform the nation whatever he had told him in the meeting.
He added that a Sri Lankan national was the front man of Dr Khan.
Musharraf said that though the-then US president, George W Bush, did not demand custody of Dr Khan, he considered him an international criminal.
Responding to Musharraf’s claims, Dr Khan called the former president a liar and traitor who sold the country’s honour for dollars.
He claimed that the former president told then prime minister Zafarullah Khan Jamali to hand him over to the CIA.
Dr Khan said that he wanted to go to the US to tell the truth but he wasn’t given permission by the authorities as they feared an adverse reaction from the masses. He said Musharraf repeatedly called him a hero of the nation, and told him that he was under house arrest due to US pressure and would be released afterwards.
Published in Daily Times, August 31st 2017.
