Concerns about nuclear scientists

["Ken Hanly" <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From India Times


US spooked by 'spirited' Pak nuclear scientist



ASHINGTON: A Pakistani nuclear scientist who believes in specters, spirits
and souls has spooked the American strategic and intelligence community.

Sultan Bashir Mohammed, a top Pakistani nuclear expert now in custody for
suspected links with the Taliban, is a believer in djinns, described in the
Holy Koran as beings made of fire. A proponent of "Islamic science," he has
written papers suggesting that these entities could be tapped to solve the
energy crisis. He has also spoken about the possibility of developing souls
and communicating with them.

But the immediate soul searching among US and Pakistani officials is in
determining whether Bashir Mohammed and other key Pakistani nuclear experts,
at least two more of who are also in custody, have spirited away nuclear
materials or know-how to the Taliban militia and its al-Qaeda terrorist
proteges.

Fears about nuclear leaks from "Islamist" scientists was the recurring theme
in television talk shows on Thursday. Several non-proliferation gurus called
for stricter oversights of Pakistan's nuclear program. Some analysts
demanded that the US move in to "take out" nuclear weapons amid
apprehensions that they may fall into the hands of jehadi forces.

The focus of attention and investigation is Sultan Bashir Mohammed,
popularly known in Pakistani scientific circles as SBM. A father figure in
the Pakistani atomic establishment, although less known than the flamboyant
A Q Khan, SBM too acquired much of his knowledge in the west, studying
engineering in England in the 1970s before returning to Pakistan.

He came into prominence when he worked out a technique for detecting leaks
in steam pipes at a Canadian-built reactor, the Karachi nuclear power plant,
in Pakistan. According to reports in the Pakistani media, the device is
patented in Canada in his name and is used worldwide as 'SBM Probe'.

He is believed to have turned to "Islamic science" in the 1980s, delving
into the Holy Koran, which he believes to be a fount of knowledge. He came
up with unusual theories to bring together physics and metaphysics. Some of
the ideas were spelt out in a volume titled "The Mechanics of Doomsday and
Life After Death." He later established the Holy Koran Foundation to explore
the scientific dimension of the book.

By the early 1990s, he was a key figure in the Pakistan's nuclear weapons
programme involving both plutonium production and uranium enrichment. He
headed the Kahuta uranium enrichment plant in the early 1990s and was given
charge of the Khushab reactor, which is believed to produce plutonium, in
1998. For his outstanding contributions the Pakistan Academy of Sciences
awarded him a gold medal and the government conferred a Sitara-i-Imtiaz on
him.

But soon after the May 1998 nuclear tests, in which he played a key role, he
is reported to have fallen out with the Nawaz Sharief government over its
consideration of signing the nuclear test ban treaty. He believed Pakistan
needed to have the option of conducting more tests.

After resigning his job, he and some other nuclear scientists set up an NGO
named 'Umma Tamir-i-Nau' for the rehabilitation of war-torn Afghanistan.
They began travelling frequently to Afghanistan, where he is said to have
been doing charity work.

But what set off alarm bells in the intelligence community was his frequent
appearances on the talk circuit in universities and colleges where he
praised the Taliban and espoused its cause. He also argued that the Taliban
was showing the way to Pakistan.

Experts are divided over just how much Bashir Mohammed could have helped the
Taliban and al-Qaeda in developing nuclear systems. Most believe he could
have at best provided them a theoretical knowledge of weapons systems.
Others say he could have acted as a conduit for acquisition of nuclear
materials from rogue sources.