Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, on Saturday said that the country could have become a nuclear power as early as 1984 but the then President General Zia-ul-Haq “opposed the move”. He was addressing a gathering on the anniversary of the nuclear tests carried out under his supervision in 1998. “We were able and we had a plan to launch nuclear test in 1984. But President General Zia-ul-Haq had opposed the move,” he said.
He said Zia opposed the nuclear testing as he believed that world powers would intervene militarily. Mr. Khan also said that Pakistan has the ability to target New Delhi from Kahuta, near Rawalpindi, in five minutes.
Mr. Khan was disgraced in 2004 when he was forced to accept responsibility for proliferation.
