As western investigators and other non-proliferation watchers begin to unravel the mysteries behind the North Korean, Iranian and now Libyan nuclear programmes, one link seems to increasingly manifest itself: Pakistan based Khan Research Laboratories, headed by none other than Dr. AQ Khan, the ‘father of the Pakistani nuclear bomb’.
In 2002 North Korea had surprised the world by declaring that it was on the threshold of enriching uranium even in the face of the 1994 Agreed Framework with the Clinton
Administration. The link that was soon discovered was the missile-for-nuclear technology barter between Pakistan and North Korea. Last year, investigators were surprised by the central role played by Pakistan in supplying the initial technology that enabled Iran to pursue a secret uranium enrichment program for 18 years. While the Libyan enrichment programme is still under deep scrutiny but those who have had an early glance have observed the ‘interconnections’ and the financial support from Pakistan to the Libyan programme.
This paper probes these linkages that not just directly impinge on Indian national security interests but damage the already fragile non-proliferation treaty.