Father of Pakistan’s Nuclear Program AQ Khan Dies

Date: 10 October 2021 - 22:11

News ID: ۹۵۲۷۴

ISLAMABAD (Dispatches) – Abdul Qadeer Khan, celebrated as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program, died on Sunday at 85.
The nuclear scientist passed away in the capital Islamabad, where he had recently been hospitalized with Covid-19.
Khan had long been hailed a national hero for transforming Pakistan into a nuclear power and strengthening its clout against rival and fellow nuclear-armed nation India.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan joined a rapidly building chorus voicing grief at the news, lamenting that the country had lost “a national icon”.
Arrangements were quickly made for a state funeral Sunday afternoon at Islamabad’s Faisal Mosque, with all government ministers and armed forces officers asked to attend. Flags were also ordered to fly at half-mast.
According to Islamic tradition, burials should take place as soon as possible, usually within 24 hours of death.
Just hours after news of Khan’s death broke, an orange mechanical digger was busy clearing a grave as mourners began arriving for the service at the giant mosque -- the sixth-largest in the world.
It began raining heavily as Khan’s coffin, draped with a Pakistani flag, was carried through a sea of black umbrellas.
Amid tight security, a massive crowd gathered to bid him farewell, with many making videos and snapping pictures as the coffin was carried into a tent-covered area accommodating Khan’s family members, ministers and other top officials.
Nearby, thousands of members of the public crammed into an uncovered enclosure, getting soaked as they prayed in the downpour.
Khan was lauded for bringing the nation up to par with India in the atomic field and making its defenses “impregnable”.
On Sunday, journalists gathered behind barriers blocking off the street leading to his home in the capital as a procession of cars entered and left the property.
Born in Bhopal, India on April 1, 1936, Khan was just a young boy when his family migrated to Pakistan during the bloody 1947 partition of the sub-continent at the end of British colonial rule.
He did a science degree at Karachi University in 1960, then went on to study metallurgical engineering in Berlin before completing advanced studies in the Netherlands and Belgium.
His crucial contribution to Pakistan’s nuclear program was the procurement of a blueprint for uranium centrifuges, which transform uranium into weapons-grade fuel for nuclear fissile material.