Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan (1936-2021)
Renowned nuclear scientist, national icon an Muhsin-e-Pakistan Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan died in the capital Islamabad on October 10, 2021.
Born in 1936 in Bhopal, India, and later immigrated to Pakistan with his family in 1951, four years after the partition of the sub-continent, Khan got his early education in the southern port city of Karachi and attended prestigious DJ Science College Karachi.
Khan graduated from the University of Karachi in 1960 with a degree in metallurgy. In 1967, he received a master’s degree in metallurgy in Delft, the Netherlands.
In 1972, he earned a doctorate in metallurgical engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.
Khan married Hendrina Reterink, a British national in 1964. The couple had two daughters.
He joined Pakistan’s fledgling nuclear program in 1976 on the request of then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, two years after India conducted its first “successful” nuclear test in 1974. Khan at that time was working in the Netherlands.
Under Khan’s leadership, Islamabad is believed to have silently developed its nuclear program in the 1980s but did not officially test it until May 1998.
Mohsin-e-Pakistan was the only Pakistani to receive the country’s top civilian awards thrice.
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 neighbor.
Death: Muhsin-e-Pakistan passed away in the capital Islamabad on October 10, 2021. His funeral prayers, led by Prof Dr Muhammad Al-Ghazali, (His sincere friend) were held at the Faisal Mosque at 3:30pm. Thousands of his lovers including top military officials, Cabinet members, parliamentarians, senior politicians, etc. attended the funeral ceremony at the sprawling Faysal Mosque.
<strong>Kullu Nafsin Dha’iqat al-Maut: (Al ‘Imran: 185)</strong>
“Every Soul Shall Taste Death”
May Allah grant the departed soul in the highest rank in Jannat-al Firdaus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Qadeer_Khan