Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle With Militant Islam - Arz-e-Pak

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