“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” There lived many scientists on this earth who marked their name with their remarkable inventions and discoveries.
Different nations have been blessed with different scientists who successfully brought up their nation and their name on the world map but there were some personalities who didn’t just marked their names but empowered their entire nation, who worked for their nation and people and became a national hero forever.
One of those scientists is Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan , hero to the Nation and Villain to the West. And one of the most-influential and respected scientists in Pakistan.
“I am proud of my work for my country.”
Abdul Qadeer Khan
Life of Abdul Qadeer Khan
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan was born on 1st April 1936 in Bhopal India. He was the youngest and the most beloved child of his parents. He was born to an educated family. He received his early education at Ganwary Primary School. He did his matriculation from Hamidia High School that was the most distinguished educational Institution.
Khan joined the D. J. Science College of Karachi, where he took physics and mathematics. His teacher at the college was famous solar physicist Dr. Bashir Syed. Khan earned a B.Sc. degree in physical metallurgy at the University of Karachi in 1960. Reading was his favorite hobby while physics was his favorite subject.
As a student he was determined to become and engineer or a scientist. He was a promising youth. The foundations were laid at the beginning. His teacher Raza Khan was a very disciplined and scholarly figure. The thirst for more and specialized knowledge made Qadeer Khan Travel abroad. He was so committed and devoted that he impressed his foreign teachers with his scientific approach and inquisitive mind.
For his work he went to Netherland’s and gained fame as a scientist. Later on in December 1974 he came back to Pakistan and convinced the PM to adopt his uranium route rather than Plutonium route in building nuclear weapons. After his role in Pakistan’s nuclear program, Khan re-organized the Pakistani’s national space agency, SUPARCO. In the late of 1990s, Khan played an important role in Pakistan’s space program, particularly the Pakistan’s first Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) project and the Satellite Launch Vehicle.
Interesting facts:
Khan’s unrestricted publicity of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile capabilities brought humiliation to the Pakistan’s government. The United States began to think that Pakistan was giving nuclear weapons technology to North Korea, to get ballistic missile technology in exchange. Khan also came under renewed scrutiny following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S.
He allegedly sold nuclear technology to Iran. However, he was pardoned in 2004, but placed under house arrest. He found himself in the crosshairs of controversy when he was accused of illegally proliferating nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. In 2006 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but recovered after surgery.
A court ended his house arrest in February 2009, but his movements were strictly guarded, and he was accompanied by authorities.
“I saved the country for the first time when I made Pakistan a nuclear nation and saved it again when I confessed and took the whole blame on myself,” Khan told AFP news agency in an interview in 2008 while under effective house arrest.
After Pakistan carried out atomic tests in 1998 in response to tests by India, Khan said Pakistan “never wanted to make nuclear weapons, it was forced to do so”.
After so many controversies he was successful in making the nation a nuclear weapon. Khan remains a symbol of pride, a hero whose contribution strengthened Pakistan’s national security against India.
His death:
The nuclear scientist died at 85 in the capital, Islamabad, after recently being hospitalized with COVID-19.
A hero:
There lived legends who were not just famous for their work but they have always been ideals to others, who ruled the hearts of people and made their entire nation proud, Doctor Abdul Qadeer Khan is indeed one of them. He is known as the “father of Pakistan’s atomic weapons program”.
He was indeed a great patriot. His efforts and services will always be remembered. He is not just a hero but also one of my personally favorite personality. It is not a lie to say that if today Pakistan is a strong nation it is because of the unbeatable efforts of Abdul Qadeer Khan. May his soul rests in peace, Ameen.
“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve, you only need a heart full of grace.”
By: Aamna Saleem Khan
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