A Strong Earthquake Jolted Upper Parts of Pakistan

Lahore :A strong earthquake jolted upper parts of Pakistan early Monday. According to sources, the quake magnitude was reported 5.7 on Richter scale while its epicenter was in the remote Hindu Kush mountain range.

Tremors were felt in Islamabad, Peshawar, Swat, Chitral, Gilgit, Buner, Lahore, Mirpur Azad Kashmir, Abbotabad, Balakot, Mansehra, Batgram, Kohat, Hangu and Karak. Meanwhile, people in panic have come out of their homes.

However, there were no immediate reports of any casualties or damage.

Source: www.apakistannews.com

Mumbai Attack’s Link Found By Pakistan

NEW YORK: Pakistani investigators have unearthed substantive links between the gunmen who attacked Mumbai in November and a banned militant group, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.The newspaper said that at least one top LeT leader, Zarar Shah, captured in a raid early this month in Azad Kashmir, had confessed to the group’s involvement in the attack.

“He is singing,” an unidentified Pakistani security official told the Journal, referring to Shah.

“The disclosure could add new international pressure on Pakistan to accept that the attacks, which left 171 dead in India, originated within its borders and to prosecute or extradite the suspects,” the newspaper said in a dispatch from Islamabad.

“That raises difficult and potentially destabilising issues for the country’s new civilian government, its military and the spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence - which is conducting interrogations of militants it once cultivated as partners”.

India’s accusation of a Pakistani link to the assault on Mumbai has revived old hostilities between the nuclear-armed rivals and raised fears of conflict.

Pakistan has condemned the Mumbai attacks and has denied any state role, blaming ‘non-state actors’.

Shah’s admission was backed up by US intercepts of a telephone call between Shah and one of the attackers during the assault, the Pakistani security official told the newspaper.

Shah told interrogators that he was one of the main planners of the assault and he had spoken to the attackers during the rampage to give them advice and keep them focused, the newspaper cited a second person familiar with the investigation as saying.Shah had implicated other LeT members, and had broadly confirmed the account the sole captured gunman told Indian investigators, the second person told the newspaper.

According to Indian reports, the captured gunman told Indian interrogators the 10 attackers trained in Azad Kashmir and later went by boat from Karachi to Mumbai. Pakistan has repeatedly said India has not provided evidence.Shah was picked up with another LeT commander, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, during Pakistani raids on militants launched in response to the Mumbai attack, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told reporters on December 10.

Nawaz Sharif Calls For Commission To Probe Bugti’s Murder

Lahore: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif has asked the government to set up a commission to investigate Baloch nationalist leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murder case.

Nawaz has demanded Bugti’s killing be investigated after his meeting with Jamhoori Watan Party chief, Talal Akbar Bugti, the Daily Times reported.

The PML-N chief also said that the former president Pervez Musharraf had committed injustices against the people of Balochistan.

Talal reportedly said that people of Balochistan “have found like-minded people in other provinces” and “a collective struggle will bring change.”

Earlier, Talal had said that his father, Akbar Bugti’s murder could have been avoided had the Chaudhry brothers so desired. But they were hungry for power and money. They didn’t stop Pakistan’’s former president General Parvez Musharraf from the `extreme action to remain in power. (ANI)

Pak present proposals to defuse Pak-India tension

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has proposed India to withdraw its forces at peace positions and make forward airbases de-activate to defuse tension between the neighboring countries.In a policy statement issued here on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said positive developments were made during last 48 hours regarding present Pak-India situation.Foreign Minister said tension has been decreased after contacts made between director general military operations.About Indian External Minister Pranab Mukherjee statement regarding ultimatum, Qureshi said the statement had proved that Pakistani stance was just and it was admitted that no evidences were given to Pakistan. He thanked the Chinese government for its efforts for defusing tension between Pakistan and India.Foreign Minister said Pakistan is ready to send a high-level delegation to India to assist in the investigations of Mumbai attacks.

Benazir Bhutto 1st Death Anniversary

NAU DERO, Larkana: First death anniversary of the charismatic leader, former Prime Minister and former Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed will be observed throughout the country on Saturday with great reverence and respect. The major events of the anniversary will be held at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto mausoleum Nau Dero (Larkana) where central leadership of PPP has reached to participate in the congregation.

President Asif Ali Zardari also arrived Nau Dero to participate in the events being organized to observe the first death anniversary of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

President Asif Ali Zardari, accompanied by Chairman, Pakistan Peoples Party, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, daughters Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, Asifa Bhutto Zardari, Sanam Bhutto, sister of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and other family members.

A large number of party workers, office bearers and supporters from every nook and corner of the country are reaching Nau Dero to attend the anniversary.

Great enthusiasm is being witnessed among the people and the entire town is sounding with PPP slogans.

Various stalls have been set up where the people are purchasing posters and badges with photographs of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Cassettes of her speeches and songs in BB’s and PPP’s praise were also on high sale.

There are tents erected by PPP workers and supporters, while all rooms of hotels, rest houses and guests houses of Larkana city have been booked.

Sindh government has made strict security arrangements in order to avert any untoward incident during the first death anniversary of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

Quran Khawani for the departed soul of Shaheed-e-Jamhoriat will be held in all cities and towns across the country. Special programs, walks, declamation contests and seminars have been planned to highlight the services of the Daughter of the East.

In these programmes, rich tributes will be paid to the great-departed leader for her meritorious service for the nation and most particularly for giving the supreme sacrifice of her life for maintaining the national unity, solidarity, and cohesion among the people.

Electronic and Broadcasting media will telecast special transmission to commemorate the anniversary of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in order to pay homage to the great leader.

Justice Iftikhar Conferring The Medal of Freedom

By conferring the Medal of Freedom on the de jure Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, on November 19, 2008, the Harvard Law School Association, US, has recognized that by not submitting to the will of a military dictator, General Pervaiz Musharraf, who was yearning for perpetuation of his rule on one pretext or another, Pakistan has entered a new era endowed with democracy free of fetters of the military dictatorship. With that Pakistan has been graduated to be called a democratic country in true sense of words.

‘Think differently’ was the driving force behind the revolution that brought the military dictatorship to its knees. On March 9, 2007, Justice Iftikhar thought differently from his predecessor judges of the higher judiciary and decided not to be cowed into giving the military generals what they had been asking for: resignation. Through the defiance of Justice Iftikhar, the message spread out on March 9 was loud and clear: the dictate of a military dictator could be turned down. With that, the whole nation started thinking differently: freedom from the bounds of dictatorship. Never before had the Pakistanis thought in that way and with that earnest desire. Justice Iftikhar showed the way, displayed the will and led from the front. The Pakistanis had attained independence in 1947 but had not embraced freedom yet. In the boldness of Justice Iftikhar, the Pakistanis saw their salvation.

The military regime and the pseudo-democratic dispensation burgeoning under the tutelage of Musharraf were flabbergasted at the courage of Justice Iftikhar. Indubitably, a judge who had touched the hearts of the masses by dispensing fair justice was himself in a need for justice. The poor and the deprived of the country did not dishearten him, as they had witnessed a reason for their being citizen of Pakistan whenever Justice Iftikhar took a suo moto action to help them out. Further, in the judicial activism performed by Justice Iftikhar to counterbalance the phlegmatic attitude of the executive and apathetic approach of the legislature, the masses found him strengthening the link between the citizen and the state – another reason for one to be a contented citizen of Pakistan. Resultantly, Justice Iftikhar was adorned with the medal of freedom of the Pakistani-style, when with mouth agape the world observed the masses even kissing his car whenever he was on his way to address the bars.

The message of ‘think differently’ got hold of attention of the masses. On July 20, 2007, Justice Iftikhar restored to his position of the Chief Justice. The four months (March to July) changed the outlook of the people of Pakistan; indeed, Justice Iftikhar had set off a revolution – a change in the thoughts of the Pakistanis, unprecedented in the history of Pakistan, at least – to adore and safeguard freedom. The four months brought the option of thinking differently and the motivation to seek freedom closer to each other. The interaction of the option and the motivation yielded fruit on February 18, 2008, when the politicians belonging to the Musharraf camp were humbled before the electoral decision of the Pakistanis. Again, never before had Pakistan witnessed such a change: the politicians who had produced development works both in the rural and the urban areas for five years to convince the voters of their significance were rooted out in a humiliating way and that in the presence of their military benefactor at the helm. But this was not the end of the story. This time, the powers adept at rigging the elections customarily dared not do that again; they knew that this was not the elections of 2002. Such was the strength of thinking differently to aspire for freedom.

A revolution is not defined only in context of the blood shed and the bodies fell. Quintessentially, a revolution is a name of a change in the thought process materialized in the form of action. The Harvard Law School’s Medal of Freedom honours individuals who have worked to uphold the legal system’s fundamental commitment to freedom, justice, and equality. What makes effort of Justice Iftikhar different from the other two recipients of the medal – Justice Thurgood Marshall of the US Supreme Court and South African leader Nelson Mandela who struggled primarily against racism – is that Justice Iftikhar stood for supremacy of a country’s constitution, a sacred document besmirched by every military dictator in Pakistan as if the Constitution of Pakistan were a mere collection of a few pieces of papers.

No one ever in the world has so far stood up for the supremacy of the constitution as Justice Iftikhar did – on both March 9 and November 3, 2007. Justice Iftikhar did that to fulfil his duty as a custodian of law. In the line of duty, Justice Iftikhar braved intimidation and coercion coming from the dictator’s camp. In castigation for holding the constitution supreme, Justice Iftikhar was also kept in illegal confinement at his official residence along with his family. No judge in the world had ever experienced such humiliating circumstances and faced such derogatory treatment as Justice Iftikhar had to bear for the cause of supremacy of the constitution.

Justice Iftikhar has not yet restored to his position as was before Nov-3. A few of his brother judges are still standing by him. But there are millions of Pakistanis of all hues still zealously backing him today for the great cause Justice Iftikhar jeopardized his official post. The award of the Medal of Freedom to him is also recognition of the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Pakistani society is with Justice Iftikhar, so is the world; the way Justice Iftikhar has been honoured in both Pakistan and abroad speaks aloud of the veracity of his stance, besides promising the success.

Pakistan has taken almost sixty years to touch the goalpost of dictatorship-free democracy – though the vestiges of dictatorship are still lingering on owing to their vested interests. Further, those who are at the helm of the affairs have forgotten that they would not have been in the power corridors in such an overwhelming number, had Justice Iftikhar not taken stance for supremacy of the constitution. Nevertheless, the writing on the wall is absolutely clear: when the masses start thinking differently, they produce different results – whenever they find chance. The election on February 18 was the first election to display how the masses were thinking differently but it was not the last election in the history of Pakistan.

Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammed Ali Jinnah

To achieve your own dreams it takes a lifetime but to achieve the dream of millions, it’s a feat only a few can perform in the history of mankind. And Jinnah was one of them. And to achieve that one has to rise above the fear and display courage. The ability and skills which he manifested in the process of creation of Pakistan and the fight he carried in all quarters, with reason and logic to bring the dream of a lifetime for millions of souls was unsurpassable. We will always remain in debt to this man and those millions of sacrifices.

There has been a lot written about him; there is a lot that has been said of him. From Larry Collins, Dominique Lapierre to Stanley Walport- all agreed on one thing: this man, this Jinnah, this leader and founder of Pakistan had resolve of a man unbreakable even by the might of the mightiest, the British Empire, the connivance and huge presence of Hindu pressure and by all who thought that to create Pakistan was something beyond comprehension and reason. But he stood his ground against all who promised, tempted, and applied pressure from all directions and yet they could not move him, not even an inch. He was to give all, right to their end of days the question how he single handedly carried this responsibility and what were those elements that made him unique in all sense; as a leader, as a tactician, as one of the finest implementer of law, as a symbol of governance and system which we all forgot, the very citizens and leaders of Pakistan after his death.

In all his numerous speeches given in whatever little time he had, it paved way for all to see and to learn and to practice how Pakistan should develop its economic policies, foreign policies, protect rights of its minorities, based on justice and fairness, a society modeled on the principles of Islam, where all will be able to contribute to its success and progression. And we all forgot within months of his departure.

It is still time for Pakistan and Pakistanis to wake up from its slumber and to invoke the spirit of its founder to bring back this country to its feet. All the challenges we see around us, all the opposition we face amongst ourselves and from outside can be dealt with if we could only understand the persona of Jinnah and his life and understand the mechanics in creation of a country that became second largest Muslim country in 20th century. A presence, a home for all where fairness and justice will exist. But alas, this was not to happen as we forgot our very own sacrifices, our very own people and our very own founder Jinnah.

Instead of following him and his vision; we followed our instincts based on greed and promotion of values against all what he created and practiced; against all what the vision of Iqbal and his philosophy stood for; against all what Chaudhry Rahmat Ali envisioned. We forgot Jinnah and all those very people that stood by him against opposition the world had never seen. These people exist in all of us. Never a day that goes past, when we do not come across the saying and quotations from any of these, but we have turned all this into a big ceremony. We have turned Jinnah into just a mere symbol. A place where he rests now needs no salutes, no visitor’s book, no swarming crowd to take pictures. It is his words; it is his life that needs to be lived in all of us. We have betrayed him in last 61 years. It is still time to appreciate and to revive that spirit in Pakistan and in all of us, and to forget these differences that we have created. We must become more understanding and tolerant of each other and work together. It is this challenge that is the need of the time and our responsibility.

Remember a young boy, seventeen years of age, arriving at Southampton. Remember a person who learnt the ways of life in those dreary months of winter. Remember that person who once walked near river Thames, immersed in his own thoughts questioning himself what change means and how it will be brought. Even Jinnah had no idea at that time but he learnt to reason well in a language that was once remote and alien, he learnt that understanding Law will take him far but he never imagined that one day he will fight for something and in a way no one had done it before. One day he will fight for the hopes of millions, for cause greater than anything he had imagined, or any of us in years to come. Imagine how it feels to be part of that change and history and the destiny, to make a separate homeland for all of us, to carry those aspirations in years to come through thick and thin. Little did he know that he will one day stand with Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Mountbatten and the whole British Empire- all the opposing forces. But he fought well with all his mind and his words and actions to turn this dream into reality- a reality which no one could ever understand and accept to this day. It is upon us now as individuals and as a society and as leaders of this nation to understand the cause and all what it took.

It is this man Mohammed Ali Jinnah who became in the process our Quaid-e-Azam, our leader and founder of Pakistan. It is this man we owe our responsibility to as free citizens of Pakistan. It is this man Jinnah, his words and his vision we owe our alliances to. It is this man we owe our debt resulting from his endeavor to turn this dream of a separate homeland for millions of Muslims. It is this man, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Quaid-e-Azam, a man for all seasons we owe our lives to and to Pakistan.

Car bomb kills 1 woman, wounds 5 in Lahore

LAHORE: Blast rocked GOR area in Shadman locality of Lahore on Wednesday morning killing a woman and wounding five persons were wounded, reports said. According to reports a bomb device was planted in a vehicle near a water tank in the area, which went off with loud blast.
Police, bomb disposal experts and rescue and relief teams have reached to the area and the injured were transferred to hospitals.
A woman identified as Farzana was killed in the incident, while her husband was seriously wounded along with four others.

A power transformer was also exploded after the blast.

According to sources a Shahzor vehicle with bogus government number plate of LHO 2513, was used for the blast. The bomb was exploded in the government officers’ residential area of Lahore near the house of a doctor. The blast also damaged a wall of the house.

Police have cordoned off the area for investigations. According to bomb disposal experts eight to 10 kilogram explosives were used in the bomb devices.

Fighter Jets Fly Over Lahore

Pakistan fighter jets have undertaken flights in the air space of Muzafarabad and its adjoining areas, sources said. It may be mentioned here that earlier Pakistan’s fighter planes had also flown over Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore.

Meanwhile, high alert has been declared at all the air ports across the country.Pakistan Air Force sources have termed these flights as per normal routine and that the planes are safeguarding the country’s air space.

If War Thrust on US Pak Have Full Rights to Defend It: Qureshi

MULTAN: Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Quraishi has said, “Pakistandoesn’t want war and we are desirous of peace, but if war is thrust onus, then we have all the rights to defend.”

Talking to media atMultan Airport, Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Quraishi said, “We areprepared to fully cooperate with India, but India should provideconcrete evidences. Foreign minister said we possess all thepotentiality for defense and the

Pakistan Armed Forces are absolutelyprepared for defense.
When quizzed, Shah Mahmood Quraishi saidthat the news about prime minister under pressure for resignation wasmere rumours. He further said that President’s visit to Afghanistancouldn’t take place due to bad weather, but the President would soon goto Afghanistan. To another question, he replied that Pak-Afghan tieswould be seen taking much positive turn in the days to come.

Pakistan Will Issue Coin of 10 Rupee in Honor of Benazir Bhutto

ISLAMABAD:Govt of Pakistan has decide to issue coin of 10-rupees at first anniversary of Benazir in honor of Ex chairperson Benazir Bhutho in Pakistan. It is decided by Govt of Pakistan.

The State Bank of Pakistan will issue about 300,000 of the commemorative coins bearing Bhutto’s portrait and inscribed with the phrase “Daughter of the East — Honourable Benazir Bhutto” in Urdu, it said in a statement.

Bhutto was assassinated in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi on December 27 after addressing an election rally, just two months after surviving a strike on her homecoming parade in Karachi.

The government has renamed Islamabad’s international airport after the two-time former premier, as well as a main road and hospital in Rawalpindi.

Maulana Masood Azhar Not in House Arrest: FM Pakistan

New Delhi: In a complete U-turn, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi denied that Maulana Masood Azhar, one of India’s most wanted terrorist, was under house arrest.

“Maulana Masood Azhar is wanted by the government of Pakistan, but he is not in our custody and he is at large,” the Pak Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was quoted by a TV channel.

The Foreign Minister’s stand also seconded by Pakistani envoy to India Shahid Malik.

“We are looking for him. He is not under house arrest. As far as I know, it (news report of Azhar’s house arrest) is wrong. He is not in Pakistan…We don’t know where he is,” the Pakistani envoy said.

The statements contradicted Pakistani Defence Minister Chaudhary Mukhtar Ahmad’s remarks in an interview to a TV channel last week that Azhar was placed under house arrest but would not be handed over to India.

Malik was asked why Pakistan cannot hand over Azhar, who was released from an Indian prison and handed over by India to terrorists in exchange for passengers of a hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999.

The Pakistani envoy also said that Dawood Ibrahim, the mob boss wanted by India for the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings, was not in Pakistan as claimed by New Delhi.

“The fact of the matter is that he is not in Pakistan,” the envoy said when asked whether Pakistan will extradite Dawood Ibrahim if India provides evidence of his presence in Pakistan.

Malik also asserted that Pakistan’s spy agency ISI has no links with Laskhar-e-Taiba, the militant group suspected to behind the Nov 26 Mumbai carnage.

Pakistan arrests cleric linked to Mumbai terrorist attacks

Pakistan has arrested the reputed head of the Islamic extremist group accused of carrying out last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, hours after the firebrand leader gave a press conference where he lashed out at UN sanctions imposed on him and his organisation.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was placed under house arrest for three months yesterday, as Islamabad issued warrants for the detention of eight other leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, sealing some of its offices across the country and freezing Pakistani banks associated with the outfit. The move risks a violent backlash by the group but it eases the massive international pressure on Islamabad to act against militants based on its soil.

"The government has decided to proscribe Jamaat-ud-Dawa," said information minister Sherry Rehman. The Pakistani authorities were reacting to a UN security council decision passed late on Wednesday to put Jamaat-ud-Dawa on a terrorist list, along with Saeed and three other members. The group claims it was an Islamic charity unrelated to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant organisation that is blamed for the Mumbai carnage, but the UN dismissed this as a ruse.

According to most independent accounts, Saeed left Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group he founded in 1990, days before it was banned by Pakistan in 2002, though he now says he never had any relations with it. India believes the Mumbai assault was planned in Pakistan and all 10 gunmen came from there, although it has been careful not to implicate the Pakistani state.

"This [UN announcement] is an attack on Pakistan, on Islam and on religious organisations," Saeed told journalists at the Jamaat-ud-Dawa office in Lahore. "We cannot accept something done on the basis of Indian propaganda."

Saeed insisted that Jamaat-ud-Dawa was not involved in terrorism, and was against suicide bombings. He said he was "willing to go before any court to prove we are innocent" and they would write to the UN in protest.

Pakistan arrested some 20 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba this week, including a supposed mastermind of the Mumbai attack. India continues to increase the demands on Pakistan. Yesterday New Delhi said it had given a list of 40 wanted people to Pakistan, double the number it has previously produced.

Jamaat-ud-Dawa: we are not concerned by UNSC ban

Branded a terrorist outfit by the UN, Jamaat-ud-Dawa on Thursday sought to put up a defiant stance, claiming that it was not concerned by the international clampdown and would carry on with its activities.

Hameed Gul Ex ISI Labelled Terrorists

A US secret document has declared ISI former chief, General Hameed Gul maintaining links with the Taliban and Al Qaeda network besides being involved in arranging financial assistance to them.

The two-page unsigned document had already been provided to the government. Sources on the condition of anonymity told that Hameed Gul has been blamed for arranging financial assistance to the criminal groups operating in Kabul beside he has been involved in recruiting the youths from seminaries and giving them training in subversion, who allegedly launch assaults on the Allied Forces with high-tech weapons.

Hameed Gul is one of the five former ISI officials, whose names Washington has recommended to the UN Security Council for their inclusion in the list of international terrorists. Earlier, US government Deputy spokesperson had denied sending any such list to the UN, while Hameed Gul has termed this report ridiculous.

Pakistan Top Priority

US Congressional Report “World at Risk” declares “Pakistan” as the top priority for the incoming US administration considering its long and medium term national interests.

“Our Commission has singled out Pakistan for special attention in this report, as we believe it poses a serious challenge to Americas short-term and medium-term national security interests. Indeed, many government officials and outside experts believe that the next terrorist attack against the United States is likely to originate from within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in Pakistan. The Commission agrees. In terms of the nexus of proliferation and terrorism, Pakistan must top the list of priorities for the next President and Congress.” The report claims.

The 160 page document which was compiled in 180 days by more than two dozen professionals and security matter experts proposed a series of 13 recommendations ranging from deeper engagement of ordinary US citizens in security matters to greater engagement with Pakistan to eliminate terrorist safe havens through military, economic, and diplomatic means.

The report also included a brief account of extradition of Dr Afia Siddiqua.

“On July 17, 2008, the Afghanistan National Police arrested Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman believed to have ties to al Qaeda, who reportedly had been acting suspiciously outside the governor’s compound in Ghazni province. Educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Brandeis University, where she earned a Ph.D. in neuroscience, she had been wanted by the FBI since 2004—the first woman sought by the law enforcement agency in connection with al Qaeda. According to media accounts, when arrested she had in her possession a list of New York City landmarks, documents describing how to produce explosives, and details about chemical, biological, and radiological weapons. She was extradited to New York for trial on charges of attempted murder and assault of U.S. officers in Afghanistan.” It stated.

Renown and acclaimed Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr A Q Khan was once again accused of running a secret network which supplied nuclear arsenal and technical know how to countries like Iran, Libya and North Korea.

“Several states have tapped into black markets and illicit networks that supply nuclear materials, designs, and expertise to almost any buyer who is interested. The best known of these networks, run by the Pakistani scientist A. Q. Khan, assisted Iran, Libya, North Korea, and perhaps others in acquiring the technologies and designs needed to develop illicit nuclear programs. It unraveled in 2003 after authorities intercepted the BBC China, a cargo ship on its way to Libya with gas centrifuge components on board. It is unlikely that Khan’s network could be reconstituted, but black-marketing of dangerous technologies, designs, and expertise continues to this day and is a major concern.”