PrintAugust 30, 2009
AQ Khan ordered freed of all restrictions
The Telegraph is reporting that a Pakistani court has ordered nuclear scientist A Q Khan freed of all restrictions on his freedom:
A.Q. Khan, the 'godfather' of Pakistan's nuclear programme accused of
sharing technology with rogue states, has been granted full freedom from the terms of his house arrest by a court.
Mr Khan was detained in December 2003 and admitted on television in early 2004 that he operated a network that spread nuclear weapons technology. He has since repeatedly retracted that statement.He was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf, but immediately placed under de facto house arrest.In February, the Islamabad High Court announced he was a "free citizen", subject to a confidential accord struck with the government.Since then, he has had to tell authorities of his travel plans, apply for permission for guests to visit him at home and intelligence and agents and security officials have maintained a heavy presence outside his house.
We know that Obama has expressed a hardline view*** on Pakistan's need to cooperate with us in fighting terrorism, so we are certain that he will press the government to ignore that High Court's ruling.
***Obama said if elected in November 2008 he would be willing to attack inside Pakistan with or without approval from the Pakistani government, a move that would likely cause anxiety in the already troubled region."If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will," Obama said.
Of course that was campaign Obama playing tough, wasn't it? And how high level a target can you make a man almost singlehandedly responsible for giving our worst enemies access to nuclear technology?
