Dr AQ Khan moves apex court seeking implementation of fundamental rights

What sort of security threat could be at universities, colleges and other respective institutions, asks Khan

PHOTO: REUTERS.

Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan on Tuesday filed a petition in Supreme Court seeking implementation of the fundamental right of freedom of movement.

Dr AQ Khan filed the petition to SC on the grounds that fundamental rights including, “that of freedom of movement, could not be abridged, curtailed or denied arbitrarily on mere liking or disliking and under the garb of reasonable restrictions.”

The reputed father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, whose movement is monitored due to security concerns, has accused government officials of exaggerating the threats to his life in order to restrict his movement.

Dr AQ Khan demands action against ‘perjuring officials’

Earlier, Chief Justice of LHC Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmed Khan directed Dr AQ Khan to approach the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the redressal of his grievance.

He urged the LHC chief justice to take to task the security detail provided to him as well as those officials who, he said, had perjured themselves in order to keep him confined.

He quoted his petition that he had filed in the LHC through advocates Mudasar Chaudhary and Ghulam Mujtaba Chaudhary against the restrictions imposed by the government over his moment in the name of security threats to him.


“What sort of security threat could be at universities, colleges and other respective institutions?” he inquired.  He added that he had no plans to go abroad or divulge any details of the country’s nuclear programme and that is why he should be granted freedom of movement.

The petition states that the CJ of LHC was “not justified in making gratuitous advice…”

He said he wants to live like a common man in an atmosphere where he could talk and move freely rather than being confined to a house.

LHC directs Dr AQ Khan to approach Islamabad court

It also states that Dr AQ Khan is a patriot and after his retirement, no one form Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), which was managed by different scientists time to time, had been treated as suspects nor are any of them is under restraints and they all enjoy security of person of “National Status.”

“It is, however, relevant to point out that ‘security’ does not mean personal containment or curtailment of movement,” the petition stated.

Dr Khan was released in 2009, five years after he was arrested under the Security Act for allegedly transferring nuclear technology and centrifuges to other countries. In 2004, Khan had confessed to sending nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, although he later retracted his remarks.

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