LAHORE: (Wednesday, May 02, 2012): Mohsin-e-Pakistan and renowned atomic scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has said that the situation of the country was deteriorating but people should not lose hope. He was addressing a big gathering at Faisal Auditorium in a ceremony organized by Directorate of Students Affairs.

Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran presided over the ceremony while Director Students Affair Chaudhry Iftikhar, people from various walks of life and a large number of students were present on the occasion. Dr AQ Khan urged the students to play good role and become a leader. He said that there was a lot of talent in Pakistan as eight-year old Irfa Karim in the field of IT and Ali Nawaz securing 23 As in A Level examination brought the country to limelight in the world. He said that talented people should be provided with guidance and facilities. He advised the youth to elect educated people and technocrats in the next polls.

He said that our drawback was that we were lacking technocrats. He said that all the progress of developed nations was based on scientists and engineers but on the contrary, our politicians were issuing statements against technocrats. He said that there was no need to say anything about the people who had been appointed ministers for water, power and petroleum. He said that our politicians were making all efforts to destroy our country and it was very difficult to advise them. He said that after feeling the passion of PU students, he was thinking to take part in the next elections from Lahore. He said that defeat of any opponent was possible if we had a dedicated team. While sharing his memories regarding early days of his life and atomic programme of Pakistan, he said that he blubbed over the heartrending incident of East Pakistan and left eating food for some days, which even he didn’t do on the sad demise of his father. He said that when India conducted atomic tests in 1974, everybody was thinking that now Pakistan would be no more. And at this point, Dr AQ Khan said, he wanted to clarify which was wrongly narrated to the people that Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto brought him to the country to start nuclear programme.

He said that he himself first written a letter to Mr Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to start nuclear programme upon which Mr Bhutto kindly considered his letter and invited him to Pakistan and trusted an infamous person. He said that he met Mr Bhutto and gave suggestions to start nuclear programme and went abroad but when he returned next year, he saw no initial task completed. He stated that then Mr Bhutto asked him to remain in the country as it was the demand of the state. He said then he consulted with his wife as he was entitled to a handsome salary, car and a house abroad. My wife, understanding that no any other person in the world could do this great job for Pakistan, decided to support me, he added. Dr AQ Khan said but in the next five months, some people created obstacles in his way to start the programme. He said that once Gen Imtiaz, military secretary to Mr Bhutto, told his wife that Dr AQ Khan would be compelled to leave the country but his wife responded that would be Dr AQ Khan who would make these people run. He said that he drew first salary after six months and it was only Rs 3,000 (three thousand). He said that I was lucky who got dedicated, patriotic and true team members. He said that Holland, Germany and England had invested 2 billion dollars on their atomic programme and Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Agha Shahi used to ask me that how could we made it possible? He said but it was a matter of survival of Pakistan. He said that he wanted to clarify the fact to the people who thought our atomic programme was very expensive. He said that the total annual budget of the entire project including installation of machinery, transportation, salaries etc was 25 million dollars and one dollar was then equivalent to 10 rupees. He said such thing had not happened in the world. He said that we started atomic programme in 1976 and in April 1978, we successfully conducted first enrichment of uranium and nobody in the world could think of it. He said that we enriched uranium 90 percent in 1983 and in 1984, he wrote a letter to Gen Zia ul Haq, who encouraged him a lot, on record that they were ready and could conduct atomic explosions in one week notice.

He said that the-then foreign secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan, who was an expert of physics, lauded the achievement in a way that he said atomic bomb could be made by two methods; one was plutonium and second was diffusion. But, Mr Khan said, nobody could accept that Dr AQ Khan did it using a third rule, he added. He said it was made possible at that time in a country which sans the capacity of making needles and chains of cycles even after 64 years of its establishment. He told the gathering that your elders did it on their own and no help was sought from any foreign country. He said that the standard of our laboratories was equivalent to German and Switzerland’s. He said that Kahotta Research Laboratory was producing such sensitive equipment which was being produced by one or two countries in the world. He said that we had provided arms and ammunition to Pakistan Army at the cheapest rates. Dr AQ Khan said that when India started work on Prithvi Missile, they prepared ballistic missile Ghauri and successfully tested it on April 6, 1998. He said that the test shattered all the Indian dreams of conquering and destroying Pakistan. He said our sources in Indian officials told us that Indian officials said that now there was no chance of fighting with Pakistan and they could not take “panga” with Pakistan. Dr AQ Khan said that he advised the government in 1982 to focus on industrialization and establish automobile industry. He said that the rulers did not listen to his advice and now we were spending billions of rupees on import of cars, mobile phones and other items. He said that the situation of Karachi, Quetta and Frontier was worsening and thanks to Allah, Punjab was in a better condition. He said that Shahbaz Sharif had done very well and working day and night and he was a hard working human being. He advised Nawaz Sharif to join business and leave politics to Shahbaz Sharif and Mr Nawaz Sharif had also enjoyed premiership two times. He said that no state was better than the country who was self-reliant in autumn. He said that we were abundantly producing wheat, rice, milk etc and Allah had bestowed us with the blessing of water. But, he said, we were wasting water into the oceans and not making dams, lakes, fish farms etc. While praising Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran, he said that he was the most experienced professor of physics in the country and no name was bigger than his name in Pakistan. He said that his father Syed Shabbir Hussain was a pious man, senior journalist and his heart always throbbed for the welfare of the country like his heart. He advised the students to offer Sala’h and read two or three pages of Holy Quran with translation. In his inaugural address, Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran said that the nation could not forget the efforts and benefaction of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. He said that we could not enjoy freedom if Dr AQ Khan had not made Pakistan a nuclear power. He said that Dr AQ Khan got the success because of his belief in Allah and tolerance as he started work at a place which was full of snakes. He said that the personality of Dr AQ Khan was a role model for 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. He said that if Dr AQ Khan had not donated his life to Pakistan after the atomic tests of India, today we must be slaves of Hindus. He said that Dr AQ Khan sacrificed his independence for our independence. He advised the students to adopt the thoughts and qualities of Dr AQ Khan. He said that knowledge was the secret of power, wealth and respect and only those nations survived who prepared themselves for unavoidable confrontations. He said that only those nations got success who realized the importance on education and creation of new knowledge.

He said that the leadership of our country had not realized that over 700 verses of Holy Quran, which is 1/8th of the Holy Book, stressed to focus on the solving the mysteries of the universe. He said that education was not on the priority of our rulers. He urged the rulers to allocate at least four percent of GDP to education and two percent to research. In the end, PU VC presented souvenirs to Mohsin-e-Pakistan and all prayed for the welfare of country and long healthy life of Dr AQ Khan.