Musharraf, Army instructed Dr. Khan to pass nuclear secrets to N. Korea says wife

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If her statements are true, it will be damning to Musharraf and the Bush government for supporting him. Previously, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, nuclear scientist, was put under a house arrest for being a nuclear dealer to North Korea and other countries. Since, he was considered a national hero for building Pakistan’s first nuclear bomb, the government didn’t want to give him maximum punishment for passing the nuclear secrets.

Dr. Khan’s wife, Hendrina Khan, however claims that Khan was coerced to provide a false confession that he acted alone in passing the nuclear information to other countries. She said he acted based on government’s and Musharraf’s instructions and with their full permission flew to North Korea and passed sensitive nuclear information to their leaders. Her full interview will be published in SPIEGEL on Monday.

This is contrary to Musharraf’s public statements and in his 2006 memoir, “In the Line of Fire”, where he claimed neither he nor Pakistan’s Army had any prior knowledge of A.Q. Khan’s alleged nuclear dealings. He wrote in that book:

"On the basis of the thorough probe that we conducted in 2003-2004…I can say with confidence that neither the Pakistan Army nor any of the past governments of Pakistan was ever involved or had any knowledge of A.Q.'s proliferation activities. The show was completely A.Q.'s."

A.Q. Khan is still under house arrest and trying in vain to get out of it. He is also under a gag order and can’t discuss the details about his nuclear dealings.

His wife Hendrina told SPIEGEL that she had intimate knowledge about her husband’s work from day one and still lives with her husband. She will be revealing their side of the story on SPIEGEL on Monday.

She told SPIEGEL:

"it is too late for (the concerned government and Musharraf) to 'confess'. The consequences for the country would be too drastic … especially from the Americans who have been supporting Musharraf through thick and thin,"

Dr. Khan’s health is deteriorating, she and her husband fear that they will be silenced by Pakistan government and will do anything to prevent the truth from coming out.

Musharraf already has problems and faces impeachment proceedings for allegedly mismanaging the country. If the democratically elected government of Pakistan adds the nuclear dealing charges, it will be the end of Musharraf.

It will also bring shame to Bush government for providing Pakistan with huge sums of money to fight Al-Qaeda, while Musharraf and his Army backstabbing the U.S. at the same time.