AQ Khan, Man Behind Pak's Nuclear Bomb, Dies Of Covid

He Had Lived In Seclusion After Being Disgraced & Sacked In 2004

- Omer Farooq Khan

Islamabad: Abdul Qadeer Khan, known as the ‘father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb’, died at a hospital in the capital city on Sunday after his lungs collapsed, severely damaged by coronavirus infection that he had contracted last month. Khan, 85, has been revered as a national hero for making Pakistan a nuclear power. Islamabad had detonated its first nuclear weapon in 1998 when he was leading the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) — a uranium enrichment facility — in Kahuta, near Islamabad.

“Khan was loved by the nation because of his critical contribution in making us a nuclear weapon state. This has provided us security against an aggressive much larger nuclear neighbour (India). For the people of Pakistan, he was a national icon,” Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan posted on Twitter after the nuclear scientist’s death. Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa said Khan’s contributions in making Pakistan’s defence stronger were “significant”.