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| Dossier on Pak scientist exposes Benazir Bhutto too | | | BL KAK
NEW DELHI, May 4:
Former President of Iran, Hashemi Rafsanjani, had sought the consent of Pakistan's former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto, to execute a 6 billion dollar deal for the purchase of nuclear weapons technology that Gen. Aslam Beg had negotiated with Tehran in 1989. This revelation is contained in the much-debated dossier on the AQ Khan network released in London on May 2.
It also revealed that after departure of Gen Beg, a new deal was also concluded between the then Army chief Gen Asif Nawaz, Rafsanjani and Gen Mohsen Rezai, Head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, in exchange for Iranian oil. According to the dossier on “Nuclear black markets: the AQ Khan network” prepared by International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), after the death of Gen Zia-ul-Haq in 1988 and Khomeini in 1989, new leaderships emerged in Pakistan and Iran that were much more inclined towards mutual cooperation on a wide range of issues.
In Pakistan, the dossier said, Gen Beg, the new Army chief, openly supported the Iran cause and suggested that Pakistan cooperate with Iran, Afghanistan and any new Islamic republic that emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union, in an alliance of sorts organised around “strategic defiance” of the US and its western allies. It said that Beg also had been an ardent supporter of Iran’s bid to acquire nuclear weapons. Although, the dossier said, Gen Beg’s direct involvement is unconfirmed and he denies this, he is widely suspected of having been an accomplice, if not encouragement or even outright direction.
The dossier quoted former US ambassador to Pakistan, Robert Oakley, and Assistant Secretary of Defence, Henry Rown, who revealed that Beg had threatened to transfer nuclear technology to Iran if Washington cut off arms sales to Pakistan. The dossier also said that two unnamed former high-level Pakistani officials were reported as saying that in 1989, President Rafsanjani sought Benazir Bhutto’s consent regarding a deal for nuclear weapons technology that Beg had initiated.
Beg was quoted as saying that by Benazir Bhutto’s own account it was she who had been approached by the Iranians with a similar proposition for a 4 billion dollar transfer. Beg also said Iran was ready to pay 6 billion dollars or more. This price, according to the dossier, however, seems exaggerated, as it is very much higher than Khan’s 1987 and 1993 enrichment deals with Iran.
Although, the dossier said, Beg denies having authorised any onward proliferation from Pakistan to Iran, he has confirmed that serious nuclear discussions took place between the two nations at the time. According to an unnamed former cabinet minister, these talks continued after Benazir’s departure from office in 1990. Several sources have reported that an agreement was reached in 1991 between Gen Asif Nawaz, Rafsanjani and Gen Mohsen Rezai, which involved the Pakistani nuclear weapons-related technology in return for Iran oil.
Oakley claimed that Beg agreed to abandon the deal at his urging and that prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Ghulam Ishaq Khan told Rafsanjani that the deal had not been approved by the president or parliament and that Pakistan would not implement it.
The Western intelligent officers were worried at that time that a deal might have involved a nuclear weapon design that Pakistan had originally obtained from China. But later it turned out to be the case of Khan’s deal with Libya. The dossier revealed that Ghulam Ishaq Khan provided continuity in the direction of the nuclear programme and protected AQ Khan from government oversight. Several of Benazir Bhutto advisers, including Major-General Imtiaz and her Military Secretary Zulfikar Ali, reportedly encouraged meetings between Khan and Iran. Benazir was aware of the nuclear discussions during both of the terms of office. These individual leaders may all have been inclined to help Iran especially after the autumn of 1990.
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