ISLAMABAD: Dina Khan, the daughter of Dr AQ Khan, disclosed on Tuesday that her father had made a telephone call to the PML-Q leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain to protest over his recent public statement that the “nuclear scientist was not under detention” as it was not true.

The extraordinary meeting between Dr AQ Khan, and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, SM Zafar and Mushahid Hussain took place after this telephone call. In a communication to The News to comment on a story “Will Dr AQ Khan be used politically?”, (December 17), Dina Khan has disclosed that she was fighting a legal battle with the UAE authorities over the issue of frozen bank account in her name. “There are no such accounts or funds in the name of my father as widely believed in the national and international press,” she said.

Although, in her rejoinder sent to The News, Ms Khan did not elaborate how her father reacted in the meeting with Shujaat Hussain, SM Zafar and Mushahid Hussain, but it is very clear that Dr AQ Khan was unhappy over the statements made by the top leadership of the PML-Q for public consumption during the election season.

Dr AQ Khan could not digest this inaccurate statement of Shujaat Hussain and picked up the phone to lodge a protest over his remarks that he was a free man. She writes that the visit was strictly personal and no political matters were discussed. “Yes, problems were discussed, but these were not of a political nature”, Dina admits, adding “I’m sure you can appreciate that after nearly four years of house arrest, my father had things to complain about.”

She justifies his father’s complaints about the treatment being meted out to him in all these years of detention.

Commenting on the issue of frozen bank accounts which according to the report might be released in the coming days, Dina said, it was not correct as neither her father nor mother had any frozen funds nor any undisclosed wealth.

“The only one with a frozen account is myself and I have been fighting my case with the UAE authorities since 2004. Unfortunately, I have been told that the case is a political one and has no legal grounds. Unless and until someone is willing to take a stand on my behalf, my money remains locked away,” Dina says.

She also did not agree that SM Zafar was being used to exercise any influence over her father, as there was nothing for him to be influenced about. Likewise, she said, Dr Attaur Rehman’s visit some time ago had nothing to do with preventing his father from going to the Supreme Court. “The only reason my father went to Karachi was to follow up on his prostate surgery done last year. It was the only opportunity he had to see his family in over a year,” she writes.

But Dina complains that “whenever we have visitors to the house, immediately afterwards something is leaked to the press. Often we are blamed for the leak when it is crystal clear that the leak originates from sources which probably bug our phones, read our text messages or bug our house. With such security in place, how could we possibly be saying or doing anything without their knowledge?”

“Mr Rauf Klasra, your articles are always read and enjoyed at our house, particularly since you do not hesitate to state things as you see them,” she writes, and adds, “I would really appreciate it if you could clarify these matters which I have pointed out so that your readers may get a more accurate picture of our situation, and the life my father is living.”


http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=11802