Dr.AbdulQadeer. Khan (N.I) is known all over the world as the man responsible for putting Pakistan on the nuclear map. Born in 1936 in the Indian Muslim state of Bhopal, Dr.Khan migrated to Pakistan on 15 august 1952. He studied at the Karachi University and subsequently went to Europe in 1961 where he studied at the Technical University of West Berlin, the Technological Univeristy of Delft, Holland and at the famous and old University of Leuven, Belgium, specialising in Physical w'Ietallurgy and Solid State Physics. He worked Ccw a number of years in Holland. In 1976, imbued with the spirit of patriotism, he returned to Pakistan to serve his motherland. He conceived the Kahuta Project and confidently established the now famous KRL. He became famous nationally and internationally in 1984 when an ;announcement confirming success at Kahuta was made. Dr.A.Q. Khan was awarded Hilal-i-Imtiaz in 1989 and Nishan?i?Imtiaz in 1996 in recognition of his outstanding services. Dr.A.Q. Khan is the author of 161 research papers and 6 internationally known books in addition to patenting several inventions                                                     

Dr.A.Q.Khan has managed to place Pakistan on the global nuclear map. The far reaching implications of his achievement for the security and development of our country are now abundantly clear to everybody. He has, throughout these years, displayed a remarkable combination of scientific and technological creativity and leadership qualities. In the words of a Nobel Laureate, science and technology depend for their advancement, on "towering individuals".

 
How did Dr.A.Q.Khan become available to Pakistan and low was he able to initiate the project, which in less than five years made him a "marked man" in the eyes of the Western World The story is as fascinating as the achievements that will over remain linked with the name Dr.A.Q.Khan. In spite of raving been created in the name of Islam, Pakistan would not become science oriented because none of the leaders was aware what science actually meant in the contemporary world. It was precisely for this reason that while Pandit Nehru, with his links With Cambridge as a student, had planned at the very outset to develop nuclear and other scientific capabilities of his country, .Lone in Pakistan thought of utilising even the opportunity of Atoms for Peace. All that we did was to set up an Atomic Energy Committee under the Ministry of Industries eight years after winning independence. The only leader to raise the issue of scientific development was Allama Mashriqi, a record holder at Cambridge as Nehru's contemporary. On the conclusion of Kashmir Conference in September, 1955, he called upon the moneyed people of Karachi to donate initially Rs. 10 million for the establishment of a scientific institute in the country. He himself announced a donation of Rs.30,000/ . With the country's elite and its snobbish politico bureaucratic set up, nobody listened to what Mashriqi said.
This applies to Dr.A.Q.Khan more than most of his Western colleagues in the profession. An ample proof of this is available in the present collection of his articles in which he warns mankind against accumulation of nuclear arsenal. Unlike the image which the West has been trying to create of Dr.A.Q.Khan a monster with nuclear weapons capabilities of his own he is more worried about the future of mankind than any Indian scientist has so far been able to appear. In one of his articles, he recalls how the advice given by "that genius Neils Bohr that temporary advantage (from using nuclear weapons against Japan) would result in perpetual menace to human security", was ignored. The advice given subsequently by Szilard, Frank, Einstein, etc., was also ignored. Dr. Khan says, "Scientists and engineers think rationally and their advice can play a positive role, but unfortunately because of their dedication to work and isolation, they have not been able to influence the course of politics".