Abdul Qadeer Khan: The Man Behind the Myth

USA & Canada: Thursday, August  26, 2010, 1:58:56 PM (Central)

Pakistan: Friday, August  27, 2010, 12:58:56 AM

Abdul Qadeer Khan: The Man Behind the Myth

Interview by Zeba Khan

ZK: Dr. Khan, your opponents consider you an evil scientist

of some sort, and your fans think of you as a national hero,
but what do you think of yourself?

Dr. Khan: I am not at all surprised at what my adversaries think

  of me abroad and what my fellow countrymen think of me at
home. Unfortunately, my adversaries belong to a category of
people who did not even spare our God, our Prophets and our
most honest and sincere leaders. They dislike me and accuse me
of all kinds of unsubstantiated and fabricated lies because I
disturbed all their strategic plans, the balance of power and
blackmailing potential in this part of the world. I am not a madman or a nut.

If making nuclear weapons for the sole purpose of safeguarding the existence,
independence and sovereignty of your country could be termed madness or fanatism, then
  there are many thousands in other countries who should be awarded even bigger titles. I am
proud of my work for my country. It has given Pakistanis a sense of pride, security and has
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been a great scientific achievement. I am extremely happy and grateful to all those
Name Pakistanis who appreciate my services for our country and show tremendous love, affection
and respect for me, my family and my colleagues. No money on earth can buy the love and
affection that has been given to me by a grateful nation. In short, I consider myself a
E-mail humble, patriotic Pakistani who gave his best for his country.

ZK: After your success with Pakistan's nuclear program you launched a campaign
against illiteracy instead of disappearing into a quiet and comfortable life. Why?
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Dr. Khan: The reason for that is obvious, most of the problems in our society spring from
illiteracy. Hatred, intolerance, poor hygienic conditions and violence all have roots in
 
illiteracy, so we're trying to do something to help the poor and the needy. I also thought we
Pak Toolbar should set up clinics for those people in the suburbs of Islamabad who can't afford to come
Pakistan Alert to the city. If they have to travel five or six kilometers into the city, that's a hundred rupees
Network already. Then, THEY may not have money for prescriptions and could end up buying
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cheaper, generic versions that are sometimes fake. We have five free clinics, each clinic
sees about 80-100 patients a day. They operate six days a week from nine to three, and the
medicines are all free. Some of the medicines we buy, some are donated by various
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Chat! pharmaceutical companies, but we charge nothing from the patients, not even ten rupees for
registration.
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ZK: But why not retire? Why stay in the public eye at all?
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Dr. Khan: Some people are ok with doing nothing all day after they retire, but then some
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people if they had nothing to do would go mad and start banging their heads against a wall.
I'm one OF those people. I can't ever retire, if I quit government work I will do social work
full time. Charity is the family business. My parents were very kind and gentle to people, my
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Abdul Qadeer Khan: The Man Behind the Myth
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Why is making new year
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Helps me stay focused
on my goals and vision in
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Decked out fair to men
is the love of lusts--
women, children,
heaped up heaps of
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tillage. That is the
enjoyment of the
present life: but God,
with Him is the fairest
resort. Quran 3:13.
http://yespakistan.com/people/abdul_qadeer.asp[8/26/10 2:59:13 PM]
children do the same, and even my little granddaughter does the same. When she has two
biscuits she always gives one of them away. I keep busy in other ways too not just charity, I
coordinate a number of scientific projects, I'm working on industrial revival and
establishment, I'm on the boards of so many Universities. I've built a Polytechnic Institute in
Mianwali, and NOW I'm building a Genetic Engineering Institute in Karachi, which I believe
will be the best in all of Asia.
ZK: How has fame treated you?
Dr. Khan: Well, sometimes if I go out to dinner with my family, people will come up to me
and put their hand across my plate for me to shake, sometimes when I have a bite of food
in my mouth. I find this a bit disturbing. I have to ask Allah's forgiveness and not get angry,
because they come to me out of love, and it's not fitting that I should turn to them in hatred.
It's my wonderful wife who has suffered the most in all this, she's lost much of her privacy.
But I tell her there's a good side and a bad side to everything. The moment people realize
who she is she is taken good care of. They show a lot of affection and respect to her.
ZK: There must be some benefits to being THE Dr. Khan.
Dr. Khan: If I escort my wife to the plane when she's flying somewhere, the crew will take
notice of who she is and she will receive VIP treatment from the moment she steps on the
plane. As for me, I can't even stop by the roadside at a small hut to drink chai without
someone paying for me. People go out of their way to show the love and respect for me. It
is very gratifying.
ZK: When's the last time you paid for dinner?
Dr Khan: It's been a long time, I can't remember, but I have never tried to take undue
advantage of who I am. Once, I was leaving the VIP lounge at an airport, and the security
guard asked to see my VIP lounge card. I didn't scream and wave my arms and say 'Don't
you know who I am? I'm Qadeer Khan!" I just took my card out of my pocket and showed it
to him, that man was just doing his job, and that's wasn't a problem for me at all. His
supervisor did come and yell at him though, he waved his arms and said 'Don't you know
who this is? This is Dr. Qadeer Khan!"
ZK: How do you occupy your free time?
Dr. Khan: I like to feed the squirrels at my office, and the monkeys who live in forest in front
of my home. Even if I'm on my way to work, if I see them waiting outside I go back to the
kitchen and fetch some bananas or apples. I read a lot, and I write a lot. I'm currently in the
process of writing down everything I can remember, anything and everything that has ever
happened to me, and I'm putting it in various diaries. (Dr.Khan pointed to a large metal
sandooq (chest) in the hallway) This trunk is full of my diaries, but for the moment I've
locked it and I can't find the key.
ZK: Is it true that you drive around in a bullet-proof car?
Dr. Khan: (laughing) I never bothered with bullet proof cars. I walk down the street and I
buy my own vegetables. There's no security risk, the only problem is that when I go out
people gather around me. There's no real security anyhow, show me a single person who's
managed to cheat the Angel of Death. Kennedy died, Saadaat Died, Zia-ul-Haq died, when
it's your time to go, it's just your time to go. I never restricted my daughters either when they
were growing up. I didn't want them to be burdened with not being able to go to school
picnics or having to travel with armed security guards. I never even went to my daughters'
school. I wanted them to grow up like normal children.
Abdul Qadeer Khan: The Man Behind the Myth

ZK: Do you remember when Pakistan gained its independence? What do you
remember from when you migrated from Bhopal, India to Pakistan?

Dr. Khan: I was ten when Pakistan got its independence, and I was living in the
predominantly Muslim state of Bhopal, India. The situation was relatively calm compared to
what was happening in the rest of India and Pakistan, but still I can remember trains coming
into the station full of dead Muslims. It was horrible. I migrated from Bhopal six years later,
when it was safer for Muslims to travel, but even then the Indian authorities were treating
the Muslim horribly.

At one train station the soldiers pulled gold jewelry off of Muslim women and pulled the
earrings out of their ears. Every valuable possession was taken from the passengers, and
ticket checkers refused to return your ticket unless they were illegally gratified. I had been
traveling with a pen that my brother gave me when I passed my exams, and just as I was
crossing out of India, a border guard reached towards me and snatched it from my pocket.
The pen had almost no monetary value, but the guard's behavior hurt me, and it was
something I'll never forget.

ZK: You are engaged in a number of social welfare and charity works. Some people
might consider this as an attempt for self-projection. What do you think of it?

Dr. Khan: Firstly, other peoples' opinions do not matter. Some people don't even respect
the Prophets, so why should I expect any better? I think of myself as a postman. God has
put me in a position where He gives me things; money and resources, and it's only my job
to make the deliveries to others. People accuse me of being extravagant in my charity, and
ask me what I'll do if I run out of money. Well, if I run out of money, I just won't be able to
do this anymore, that's all. But, if I have money and don't help other people with it then my
conscious will be burdened, I'll be too guilty to sleep at night.

ZK: Tell me something that most people don't know about you.

Dr. Khan: Some people have the impression that because I built a nuclear bomb I'm some
sort of cruel person. That's not the case. I own many guns but I've never shot even a bird. I
love animals, and I wouldn't even harm an ant. Any one of my friends or family can tell you
that same. I built a weapon of peace, which seems hard to understand until you realize that
Pakistan's nuclear capability is a deterrent to aggressors. There has not been a war in the
last 30 years and i don't expect one in the future. The stakes are too high and any aggressor
will have to consider carefully.

ZK: Well, in closing, what advice would you have for Pakistanis who are overseas
right now?

Dr. Khan: My advice to them would be that when they come to visit their families, they
shouldn't waste their time and breath discussing and arguing and trying to solve every single
problem in Pakistan just by talking about it. I'd say to them, instead of doing that, go to
wherever it is you came from and build a small school or a medical center. Run it as a
private institution if you want, so long as you make concessions for poor students or
patients. If you can't be there long enough, form an association of your friends and other
donors and have them see to it.

Even if you just go to a small village and pay for the boring of an underground well, you'll be
doing more to help than discussing every minute detail of Pakistan's social, economic and

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Abdul Qadeer Khan: The Man Behind the Myth

political scene and spending nothing but your breath. If you have more time, put in a basic
sanitation system! You can take your education and your money and bring awareness to our
people. Even if the school you build only goes to eighth grade, you have still given the
people the tools to read newspapers and books independently. They can then learn on their
own and at least have basic knowledge about health and other things. The overseas
Pakistanis should stop talking about how to fix the government and just do some grass-roots
teaching and social work instead. You've got to work hard to help people, I don't understand
why everyone wants to be a king and no one wants to be a soldier. Whoever comes from
abroad wants to solve all the problems of Benazir, Nawaz Sharif and Gen. Pervez Musharraf
put together. They should try to solve the problems of the poor people who have no potable
water, a primary school or a basic sewerage system in their villages.

Date/Time Last Modified: 3/13/2003 11:00:27 AM

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