ISLAMABAD, 23 August 2006 — Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan is suffering from prostate cancer, the government said yesterday.
Qadeer, 70, a leader in the program that built Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this month following a routine examination, according to a Ministry of Information statement.
“The government of Pakistan would like to hold out an assurance that the best specialist medical care is being provided to Dr. A.Q. Khan in consultation with his family and personal doctors,” the statement said.
Qadeer has lived under virtual house arrest in Islamabad since he confessed in early 2004 to leaking sensitive nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
He is still regarded as a national hero by many Pakistanis because of his role in developing the country’s nuclear deterrent to rival that of its larger neighbor India. Qadeer was pardoned by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistan launched a formal investigation in 2003 after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, wrote a letter to Pakistan saying that Qadeer was involved in leaking technology to other countries. It emerged that Qadeer operated an international black market in weapons technology and know-how. Pakistan’s government maintains that it was not aware of his dealings, but has repeatedly refused to allow the IAEA to question him.
The statement said doctors were alerted to Qadeer’s condition during a routine medical examination, which was followed by an ultrasound guided biopsy, the results of which were analyzed by two specialists.
Qadeer was shifted to his home from a hospital on Monday, said a senior government official who spoke on condition of anonymity since he wasn’t authorized to comment on the issue. It wasn’t clear how long he had been in the hospital, which is located at the nuclear research facility near Islamabad that is still named after him: Khan Research Laboratories.
Qadeer, the only person in Pakistan’s history to have been awarded the Islamic nation’s highest civilian award twice, has not been seen in public since his confinement — other than when he’s sitting on the verandah of his Islamabad villa.
In June 2005, Qadeer suffered a cardiac problem but was not hospitalized.
Friends of Qadeer were quick to wish him a speedy recovery.
Opposition Sen. Farhatullah Babar, an old friend of Qadeer’s, expressed shock. “This is very sad news and I wish him an early and steady recovery,” he told The Associated Press.
A family friend of Qadeer, Hussam ul-Haq, demanded that the scientist should be “given the best possible treatment in Pakistan or abroad ... He is not just an asset to Pakistan but he is an asset to the Islamic world.”
“We had apprehensions about his health. He had regular checkups. He was suffering from things you get in depression but we have never heard of his cancer. This is very sudden,” said Haq, who is the brother of Qadeer’s former secretary.
