Pakistan’s AQ Khan eyes political role

Just two days before general elections in Pakistan, Al Jazeera caught up with the man who is a national hero for transforming Pakistan into a nuclear power.

But to many in the West, Abdul Qadeer Khan is a rogue scientist who sold nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran.

“I helped [Pakistan] when it needed me, now, I think the country needs me because the political situation is so bad,” Khan told Al Jazeera. 

“As a leader, as a guide, I don’t have to take part in any election. I don’t want to be part of the parliament my stature is much higher than becoming a member of the parliament,” he added, saying that he is trying to put some people in parliament to put “check and balances on the mal-administration”. 

He confessed in 2004 to having been involved in a clandestine international network of nuclear weapons technology proliferation.

He was reluctant to discuss nuclear proliferation with Al Jazeera, saying that the court had asked him not to. 

Khan was pardoned by Pervez Musharraf, who was president at the time, but remained under house arrest until 2009.

He tells Al Jazeera he never set foot on Iranian soil and even casts doubt on Iran’s nuclear weapons programme.