While the government of Pakistan couldn't possibly condone the grievous offence the President of Pakistan in recognition of Dr Khan's services to the nation issued a full pardon to him. Even the Americans seemed aware of Pakistan's predicaments and went along with Pakistani line of actions. Yet the flame of fire kindled by the scandal refused to douse and the ballyhoo created over the episode continues to die hard, the alleged nuclear proliferation by Dr AQ Khan has in the meantime taken its toll and created unnecessary phobia about a highly insecure future by concocting bewildering variety of speculations and through the desperate search of a scapecoat. While AQ Khan's confession has indeed been heart-aching for his countrymen, the sad behaviour of those who take this internationally dangerous situation as a God-gifted pie of opportunity deserve universal condemnation.

Few seem to understand that the whole dirty matter is like that and it's made only dirtier by unnecessarily churning those ugly details of 'the episodes'. If what are being now called ugly and labelled immoral or unethical, have to become so after so many such dirty processes had been gone through with as many as nine more nuclear powers proliferating after 1945. And the loopholes are made available in umpteen numbers of sanctions, checks, inspections, restrictions and treaties.

It is now rather fashionable in the west to denounce countries like Pakistan for the nuclear leakages to the so-called 'rogue states' -- totally ignoring the fact that the advanced countries, the arms dealers and mafias operatives in the Western societies are virtually responsible for proliferation effort. The atomic era has been witness to the growth of nuclear arsenal around the world especially in Israel through the most clandestine means while the Big-5, the self-appointed nuclear arbiters, looked the other way. Many experts believe that Israel would one day surprise the world by manufacturing and proliferating some of the deadliest of the weapons. It does not however rest at that.

The way the proliferation has been taking place in Russia, world's second largest nuclear power, is indeed ominous. According to the US intelligence there are over 950 sites in the former Soviet Union that are contaminated with weapon-grade nuclear materials. Nearly each one of the locations has absolutely no security or logging system enabling them to track the inventories.

After the collapse of Soviet Union its nuclear arsenal became critically vulnerable in an economically shattered country. The nuclear black market defined as trading of nuclear devices between sub-national groups became alarming and non-stoppable. In an interview the former US armed forces committee chairman Senator Nunn stated: International nuclear smuggling is the primary security challenge not only for the US but the world at least for next 5 to 10 years, perhaps longer.

Much like the illicit drug trade, authorities are only able to stop an estimated 40 per cent of the nuclear trafficking. 'Instances of confiscated nuclear weapon from former Soviet Union countries in 1994 doubled to 124 from the previous year. This means there is an enormous amount of radioactive material that is being transported to all four corners of the globe.

It is estimated that a legitimately threatening bomb only needs between three to twenty-five kilograms of uranium and one kilogram of it occupies only about one-seventh the volume of a standard aluminum soft drink can. The most dangerous isotopes are not very radioactive and are more difficult to detect. There are interesting accounts of non-paid soldiers taking sensitive nuclear materials from the factories without much difficulties. The investigators of many such cases said, "Even potatoes are probably much better guarded today than radioactive materials". In a recent incident a pair of Lithuanian smugglers was apprehended during a sting while attempting to bring nuclear warhead into the US via Miami Airport.

Even the Americans cannot absolve themselves of the charge of proliferating nuclear weapons. A closer examination of Clinton era shows that despite perceived gains made in nuclear arms control the decade of 1990s did see further (vertical) US nuclear proliferation in terms of new weapon designs.

In power relations there is no place for compassion; neither can one afford to show ethics or moral: In a merciless quest for the tools of power one cannot be anything short of modern day Machiavelli.

Brig ( retd) Hafiz is former DG of BIISS.