Guest guest Posted February 8, 2004 Report Share Posted February 8, 2004 Newsletter at http://www.indiacause.com ------------------------------- According to intelligence circles, the evidence was so overwhelming that the Pakistani leadership lost its nerve, especially after they were told Islamabad would be in the dock internationally and risked losing the $ 3 billion US aid package Washington had just cleared. Pak cracked under hard US proof http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-483777,curpg- 1.cms TIMES NEWS NETWORK WASHINGTON: The United States threatened Pakistan with sanctions after discovering its proliferation activities in order to force military leader Pervez Musharraf to act against his hero A Q Khan , it has been revealed. The Bush administration confronted Musharraf with evidence of Khan's reckless activities last October, weeks before the IAEA got into the act. In a pincer move, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Central command chief John Abizaid traveled to Pakistan separately to present the evidence , Armitage tackling Musharraf and the political leadership, and Abizaid laying down the line for the Pakistani military. According to intelligence circles, the evidence was so overwhelming that the Pakistani leadership lost its nerve, especially after they were told Islamabad would be in the dock internationally and risked losing the $ 3 billion US aid package Washington had just cleared. Musharraf , who had already been warned by the Americans about Khan several months before, was shell-shocked by the volume of evidence they presented. "It seemed that the Americans had a tracker planted on Khan's body...They know much more than us about Dr. Khan's wealth spread all over the globe," Pakistani officials later conceded to the media. "We were told that Pakistan's failure to take action will most certainly jeopardize its ties with the United States and other important nations." Musharraf then played for time. He ordered an inquiry to verify all the American charges, while weighing ways to cut Khan to size and save Pakistan and his own hide. Intelligence agents were sent all over the world to crosscheck US documentation. Musharraf also sent two of his most trusted aides, Lt Gen Khalid Kidwai, head of the Pakistan's (Nuclear) Strategic Planning and Development Cell, and Lt Gen Ehsan ul-Haq, the ISI chief, to confront Khan. Khan initially mounted a brazen offense, telling the two that his activities were in Pakistan's interest and he had had the backing of all prime ministers and army chiefs. But as Musharraf'##### produced evidence of his illegal dealings, including secret bank accounts, and the implications for Pakistan of the proliferation rap, he began to back down. According to one account, the generals virtually blackmailed Khan into submission, warning him that he risked being kidnapped by American and Israeli agents and the Pakistani military could not guarantee his safety or that of his family, including a daughter in London who is said to have smuggled out evidence to implicate the Pakistani military and save her father if he was persecuted or prosecuted. In fact, even after he was disgraced last week, Musharraf publicly said it was not advisable for Khan to travel abroad. One of the most compelling pieces of evidence against Khan was a letter he had written to Iranian officials urging them to dismantle equipment from Pakistan and to identify dead Pakistani officials as their contacts. In addition, US officials also had evidence of Khan offering to sell nuclear secrets to Saddam Hussain and traveling to Beirut for a clandestine meeting with a top Syrian official. Indian intelligence circles in fact suspect that Khan may have helped spirit away some of Iraq's WMD to Pakistan. B Raman, a former intelligence official cites Pakistani sources as saying Khan used a Pakistani aircraft delivering supplies to Iran to stop by in Syria to pick up material, possibly related to its WMD, to prevent it from falling into the hands of US inspectors. ------ End of message ------- Thank you. Mahendra Joshi http://www.indiacause.com (India News, NRI Services and Activism) ___________________ Keep informed: Receive IndiaCause NewsLetter http://www.indiacause.com/IC_JML.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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