Pakistan accorded a state funeral to top nuclear scientist
Heartbroken Pakistanis on Sunday bade a final farewell to their national hero Abdul Qadeer Khan honored as the “father of Pakistan’s nuclear program”.
Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan passed away in Islamabad on Sunday morning at the age of 85. He was admitted at KRL Hospital and was suffering from lung problems.
He was accorded a state funeral. Thousands of Pakistanis attended the funeral prayers amid heavy rain and thunderstorm at Faisal Mosque. Funeral prayers were offered for him in absentia in many cities as people grieved the loss of a national hero.
Flags were flown at half-mast as the government declared one-day mourning on his demise that plunged the nation into grief. He was buried at the H-8 graveyard as per his will.
National Icon
Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi said that he was “deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan,” whom he had known personally since 1982. “He helped us develop nation-saving nuclear deterrence and a grateful nation will never forget his services,” Dr. Alvi said.
Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a state funeral and directed that the flag of Pakistan be flown at half-mast to mourn the loss of the national hero.
PM Imran Khan said that Dr. AQ Khan was “a national icon” for the people of Pakistan. and “was loved by our nation.” His critical contribution in making Pakistan a nuclear weapon state will always be remembered as it “provided us security against an aggressive much larger nuclear neighbor.”
Profile of AQ Khan
Abdul Qadeer Khan, more commonly known as AQ Khan, was a Pakistani physicist. He studied at the Technical University of Berlin and earned a Master’s degree from Delft University of Technology and a Ph.D. in metallurgical engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven. Khan worked at URENCO, a nuclear fuel company, on uranium enrichment plants in the Netherlands.
After India tested its first atomic bomb in 1974, Khan contacted then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and offered his services for the Pakistani nuclear program. He then returned to Pakistan and established a new laboratory in Kahuta, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), to develop highly enriched uranium.
With his assistance, Pakistan detonated its first nuclear bomb on May 28, 1998. Dr. AQ Khan’s contributions were critical in transforming Pakistan into the world’s first Islamic nuclear power. He was awarded the Nishan-i-Imtiaz for his services to the country.