Nation observes 1st death anniversary of ‘Father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb’ Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan
The first death anniversary of metallurgical engineer and father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan was observed on Monday (today) across the country.
Dr Khan was hailed as a national hero for transforming Pakistan into the world’s first Islamic nuclear power, but his life was under the influence of conflicts and restrictions.
Dr. AQ Khan was not only a nuclear scientist but a metallurgist who along with his team played a key role in making Pakistan’s atomic bomb by supervising the most complex work like uranium enrichment.
Pakistan became a nuclear power on May 28, 1998 by detonating in the mountains of Chagai district of Balochistan, after that Dr. AQ Khan also came under controversy.
Initially, he was criticized for being fond of fame, but in 2004, the then military president General Pervez Musharraf detained AQ Khan after an investigation in the light of the alleged evidence provided by the US.
Dr. AQ Khan was accused of selling important equipment and information including centrifuges related to atomic bomb to Iran and Libya.
In a televised address, Dr Khan offered his “deepest regrets and unqualified apologies”. He was pardoned by Pakistan’s then-president, Pervez Musharraf, but he was held under house arrest until 2009.
On October 10, 2021, he died at the age of 85 after being hospitalised with Covid-19 in Islamabad, he was buried with full national honors.
Dr Khan was suffering from multiple ailments but his health deteriorated after he contracted coronavirus that doctors believed was cause of his death.
He was accorded state funeral at Faisal Mosque before his burial at H-8 graveyard. He was 85.
