Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak
Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak
Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak
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Rogue in the Ranks<br />
<strong>The</strong> long-bearded Bashiruddin Mahmood had worked as head of<br />
the Khoshab nuclear facility until he resigned in protest against the<br />
government’s willingness to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty<br />
(CTBT). Even during his service he was suspected of having links<br />
with <strong>Islam</strong>ic militant groups and he publicly supported the Taliban,<br />
describing them as a model for <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>. He advocated extensive<br />
production of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium to help equip<br />
other <strong>Islam</strong>ic nations with these materials. He termed <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>’s nuclear<br />
capability ‘the property of the entire Ummah [Muslim community]’.<br />
<strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i security authorities had long viewed his continuation in the<br />
sensitive post at the PAEC as dangerous and, in 1999, he was tranferred<br />
to a less important position. He was greatly upset by the decision.<br />
Suspicion about the activities of UTN increased after the fall of the<br />
Taliban government. In November 2001, the coalition forces and media<br />
found several documents in the UTN office, which demonstrated that<br />
the organization was interested in developing biological weapons.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y recovered designs for a crude system of delivering anthrax. 3<br />
<strong>The</strong> premises in Kabul’s wealthy neighbourhood was also used as<br />
a residence for Bashiruddin Mahmood during his stay in the Afghan<br />
capital. Hundreds of copies of a document called ‘Biological warfare:<br />
an imminent danger’ were also found there. <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i security agencies<br />
arrested all seven members of the UTN’s board of directors, most<br />
of them retired officers of the armed forces or nuclear scientists. In<br />
December 2001, President Bush placed the UTN on the list of the<br />
organizations supporting terrorism.<br />
Under interrogation, Bashiruddin Mahmood and Abdul Majeed told<br />
<strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i investigators that they had had a series of meetings with bin<br />
Laden, the last of which took place in August 2001. <strong>The</strong>y reportedly<br />
discussed with the al-Qaeda leader the development of chemical,<br />
biological and nuclear weapons. 4 Bashiruddin Mahmood also provided<br />
information about the infrastructure needed for a nuclear weapons<br />
programme and the effects of nuclear weapons. <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i officials,<br />
however, dismissed the possibility of nuclear technology being passed<br />
on to al-Qaeda by the two detained scientists. <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i security<br />
officials contended that both the scientists were not weapon experts,<br />
and therefore of little value to al-Qaeda. <strong>The</strong> two men were released<br />
and then rearrested and detained for several months. <strong>The</strong>y were finally<br />
freed without any charge in mid 2002, despite the conclusion that they<br />
had violated a secrecy oath during their visits to Afghanistan. <strong>The</strong> main<br />
reason cited by <strong><strong>Pak</strong>istan</strong>i authorities for not putting them on trial was<br />
1