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Taliban may kidnap AQ Khan for ransom: Pak editorial | An editorial has suggested that Taliban may try to kidnap the disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr.Abdul Qadeer Khan for a hefty ransom, which is said to be the
prime reason behind resumption of security restrictions on him. While many believe
that it was sustained US pressure because of which the government is forced to
retain the restrictions on Dr. Khan, an editorial in a leading Pakistan daily
suggested that the father of country's nuclear program is under severe threat
from the Taliban. According to The Daily Times editorial, the Taliban could abduct
Dr.Khan, who is considered as one of the greatest nuclear proliferators of all
time, and demand a price that it has never received in ransom. The editorial stated
that Taliban would not only demand ransom from Islamabad, but also from the United
States, which has been pushing Pakistan to hand over Dr. Khan for interrogations.
"The ransom will be demanded not only from Pakistan but from the US as well! And
he will go to the highest bidder. Even in normal circumstances, Dr Khan would
be a very attractive victim, but given Islamabad's security, he is under more
threat than any other person living in the country," the editorial said. In January
2004, Khan confessed to having been involved in a clandestine international network
of nuclear weapons technology proliferation from Pakistan to Libya, Iran and North
Korea. On February 5, 2004, President General Pervez Musharraf, announced that
he had pardoned Dr. Khan as he was a national hero. In an August 23, 2005 interview
with Kyodo News, Musharraf confirmed that Khan had supplied gas centrifuges and
gas centrifuge parts to North Korea and, possibly, an amount of uranium hexafluoride
gas. Khan came under scrutiny following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the
U.S. and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan to oust the fundamentalist
Taliban regime in Afghanistan. It emerged that al-Qaeda had made repeated efforts
to obtain nuclear weapons materials to build either a radiological bomb or a crude
nuclear bomb. In late October 2001, the Pakistani government arrested three Pakistani
nuclear scientists, all with close ties to Khan, for their suspected connections
with the Taliban. The Bush administration continued to investigate Pakistani nuclear
weapons proliferation, ratcheting up the pressure on the Pakistani government
in 2001 and 2002 and focusing on Khan's personal role. He has been under house
arrest since February 2004.
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