Author: Shyam Bhatia in London
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: January 29, 2004
URL: http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/jan/29spec.htm
A former friend and colleague has
made sensational disclosures about how Dr Abdul Qader Khan -- 'father'
of Pakistan's nuclear programme -- stole blueprints and classified components
from the offices of his Dutch employers in Amsterdam.
Frits Veerman, a professional technical
photographer who shared office space with Khan, also revealed details of
the Pakistani metallurgist's systematic deception.
Veerman was for many years a full
time employee at the Physics Dynamics Research Laboratory (known as FDO)
that conducted research on behalf of Urenco, a nuclear engineering consortium
funded by Holland, Germany and the UK. Bhopal-born Khan was one of his
colleagues.
When Khan fled Holland in 1976,
he attempted to use Veerman to procure equipment he needed to duplicate
Dutch-made centrifuges to produce highly enriched uranium required for
Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.
Before leaving, he introduced Veerman
to a number of fellow Pakistanis, including a brother he said was employed
by Pakistan International Airlines in Amsterdam.
Dismissed by FDO after he threatened
to go public with his concerns about how Khan had insinuated his way into
the FDO 'brain box,' Veerman was subsequently tailed for a year by BVD,
the Dutch internal security service, and even spent a day in prison on
charges of aiding and abetting Khan in his nuclear espionage.
Dutch interrogators told him, 'If
Khan is a spy so are you because if he has actually done what you persistently
say he did, he could never have done it on his own. He would have received
help. From you.'
Now aged 60, Veerman says he has
nothing to lose by revealing some hitherto closely held secrets about Khan's
operations.
Describing the 68-year-old Pakistani
as more of a thieving James Bond than a scientist, Veerman has for the
first time revealed some of the letters Khan wrote to him to obtain components
he desperately needed for his work in Pakistan.
In one letter dated January 1976
and shown to rediff.com, Khan wrote, 'Dear Frits, It is almost a month
that we have left the Netherlands and I am gradually beginning to miss
the delicious chicken. I need a few things from my desk. Will you please
take Henny (Khan's wife) to FDO on a Saturday morning so she can take the
required things? A carton would be sufficient to take these things.'
In another letter, he tells his
Dutch friend of the beautiful weather in Islamabad and how the latter is
always welcome to come and stay.
At one point, Khan dropped hints
of money and the offer of an all expenses paid trip to Pakistan where he
promised Veerman would be treated like royalty.
In a third letter, he writes, 'Dear
Frits, very confidentially I request you to help us. I urgently need the
following information for our research programme:
1. Etches of pivots:
(a) Tension - how many volts?
(b) Electricity - how many amperes?
(c) How long is etching to be done?
(d) Solution (electrolytic) HCL
or something other is added as an inhibitor
If it is possible, grateful for
3-4 etched pivots. I should be very grateful if you could send a few negatives
for the pattern. You should be having negatives of these.
Frits, these are very urgently required,
without which the research would come to a standstill.'
Veerman has told rediff.com that
the letters are only the tip of the iceberg. He claims to have seen top
secret blue-bound FDO files stacked in Khan's home where Veerman was routinely
invited for a cup of tea or a meal of fried chicken.
Khan justified their presence by
explaining that being fluent in German, Dutch and English, he was helping
out his employers in translating the contents into different languages.
Khan's wife Henny, a South African-born
Dutch woman with a British passport, was given a part time job by FDO to
translate highly classified files and documents.
Veerman believes Khan still returns
regularly to The Netherlands under a false identity to renew ties with
his contacts and maintain access to certain suppliers.
This is the first time an independent
authority has testified to Khan's role in stealing classified data. In
Pakistan, where such charges have previously been ascribed to Indian propaganda,
Khan is routinely praised for his intelligence and regularly compared to
Albert Einstein.
The disclosures come at a time when
Khan and at least a dozen other Pakistani nuclear scientists face charges
of selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya, North Korea and Al Qaeda terrorists.
Rediff.com has been told of how
Khan set up some companies with the specific aim of marketing his stolen
expertise to whoever was prepared to purchase it.
Unlike the vast majority of Pakistanis
who view Khan as half way between a saviour and a saint, Veerman sees him
as a flawed and insecure human being. If they ever meet again, he wants
to ask Khan how he justifies all the years of deception.
