Mourning national ‘icons’
ABDUL QADEER KHAN, the Pakistani nuclear scientist, and Abolhassan Banisadr, a former president of Iran, who have died recently, aged 85 and 88 respectively, were influential and contrasting international figures.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, expressed his condolences at AQ Khan’s passing: “He was loved by our nation because of his critical contribution in making us a nuclear weapon state. This has provided us security against an aggressive, much larger nuclear neighbour. For the people of Pakistan, he was a national icon.”
The New York Times reflected rather a different view of a man who sold nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya: “For at least 25 years, starting from scratch in 1976, he built, bought,
bartered and stole the makings of weapons of mass destruction…. To the CIA, he was one of the more dangerous men on earth… The great fear was that a terrorist organisation such as al-Qaeda would buy or steal the makings of a nuclear weapon.”
In marked contrast, Banisadr, whom I got to know quite well during the hostages crisis in Teheran, was a moderate who was eventually ousted by Islamic hardliners in Iran. Initially in Khomeini’s inner circle, he fell out with the Ayatollah’s extremist followers and was forced to flee the country and end his days in exile in France.
On one occasion when he was president, Banisadr insisted on seeing me to make it clear he wanted the 52 American hostages released unharmed. He was a good man who paid the price for not supporting terrorism.