Pakistani Reveals Details of Nuclear Program, Seeks Asylum

A Pakistani scientist has fled to the United States and is cooperating with the FBI and U.S. intelligence officials on sensitive details of Pakistan’s nuclear program, including his country’s recent dealings with China and Iran, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Iftikhar Chaudhry Khan, whose identity card describes him as an assistant research officer at Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission, has already held three meetings with the FBI, his attorney, Michael J. Wildes, said in an interview.

Khan, 29, and four other nuclear scientists fled Pakistan out of fear that Islamabad was considering a preemptive nuclear strike against India, Wildes told reporters at a news conference in New York.

Khan claims that he observed Chinese military personnel off-loading heavy water, an atomic component, and weapons-grade uranium at Pakistan’s Chaasma nuclear facility, Wildes said.

He also claims to have witnessed Iranian nuclear scientists working at key Pakistani facilities and to have read reports outlining an oil-for-nuclear information exchange between Pakistan and Iran.

Wildes’ characterization was quickly disputed by Pakistani officials.

A government statement provided by the Pakistan Embassy in Washington said “no scientist of any consequence” with Khan’s name ever worked in sensitive nuclear installations. A senior Pakistani diplomat said Khan was merely seeking a green card to allow him to live in the U.S.

Khan, who says he fears for his life, is now pleading for political asylum in the United States. The other four scientists are in England, Wildes said.

The Pakistani scientist arrived in New York via Canada after fleeing Pakistan with the help of unnamed foreign intelligence agents.

Wildes said his office has “enlisted the support of the U.S. intelligence community” to help locate Khan’s wife, who is being held in Pakistan against her will.

The FBI would not comment on contacts with Khan. However, senior U.S. officials confirmed that discussions are underway, and U.S. intelligence officials are trying to verify Khan’s information.

“We’re willing to hear him out, then we’ll pass judgment,” a senior U.S. official said.

Wildes, who described Khan as “instrumental” to the nuclear program, countered that Islamabad’s reaction was expected.

Khan claims to have left Pakistan shortly after a meeting he and the other four nuclear scientists attended at Pakistan’s Khushab Nuclear Research Center on April 25 at which ranking government officials and military personnel discussed a nuclear attack on India.

Wildes distributed copies of a purported protest letter written by Khan the next day to Altaf Hussain, chief scientific officer for Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission. Handwritten in English, the letter warns of the dangers of a nuclear attack and urges Hussain not to act.