Chaudhry Abdul Majeed

Chaudhry Abdul Majeed
Born	1937 Lahore, British Punjab, British Indian Empire
Died	Islamabad, Pakistan
Residence	Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory
Citizenship	Pakistan
Nationality	Pakistani
Fields	Nuclear Chemistry
Institutions	Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) The New Laboratories (TNL)
Alma mater	University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore (Pakistan) Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
Doctoral advisor	Dr. Jozeph Jørgen
Other academic advisors	Rafi Muhammad Chaudhry
Known for	nuclear detterence programme X-ray scattering technology MLIS development nuclear energy programme
Notable awards	Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (1998) Hilal-e-Imtiaz (2007)

Chaudhry Abdul Majeed (born:1937; Urdu: چودہری عبد لمجيد ), D.Sc., is a Pakistani nuclear chemist and an atomic weapon and technology expert. He is known as one of the pioneers of Pakistan's nuclear detterence programme, and has worked closely with former PAEC Chairman Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan's plutonium reprocessing project. He rose to prominence when he was apprehended by Pakistan's intelligence agencies in a joint operation in late October 2001. Majeed was also a one of the founding member of Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood's Ummah Tameer-e-Nau charity; an NGO which caused an international embarrassment for Pakistan.

Education

Majeed was educated in Lahore, Punjab, British Indian Empire. In 1955, Majeed attended University of Engineering and Technology of Lahore, and took his double B.Sc. in Mathematics and Chemistry in 1959. The same year, he was admitted at the High-Tension Laboratory, a physics department for advanced courses in Nuclear sciences, of the Government College University (GCU) where he did his M.Sc. in Nuclear Chemistry. His master's thesis dealt with an extensive research on Geiger counter and were written on "To study the characteristics of halogen counters", which was supervised by R. M. Chaudhry, which he took in 1962.^[1] After his degree, Majeed joined Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), and was assigned at the PAEC-Lahore Center under the directorship of dr. Ishfaq Ahmad.

However, in the 1964, Majeed went to Belgium with a scholarship award by the PAEC, and attended Katholieke Universiteit Leuven where he received his D.Sc. in Nuclear Chemistry in 1968. The same year, Majid carried his academic research at the plutonium facility in Belgium in the late 1960s.^[2] Majeed was trained at the Tihange and Doel, both plutonium facilities.^[2] There, he was a most-senior scientist and had access to most classified documentations on sensitive plutonium technology which is critical to developed the nuclear weapon.^[2] Majeed was also at the International Center for Theoretical Physics, invited by Abdus Salam, during the 1970s and early 1980s. At ICTP, Majeed taught advanced courses in chemistry and mathematics as associate professor. At ICTP, Majeed published numerous research papers in the field of Spectroscopy, neutron and particle detectors.^[3]

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission

Majeed came back to Pakistan from ICTP, after Abdus Salam had gravitated scientists to report to Munir Ahmad Khan, in 1974 after India had conducted a surprise nuclear test—codename Pokhran-I. At PAEC, he was sent to Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology where he was assigned to the Nuclear Chemistry Division led by dr. Iqbal Hussain Qureshi. In 1974, Majeed was a part of Munir Ahmad Khan's team that had supervised the criticality of second nuclear pile —PARR-II reactor.^[4] After the construction of the third nuclear pile—PARR-III, also known as The New-Labs; Majeed was the first technical director, and was part of a team that supervised the reactor's criticality.^[4] An expert plutonium technology, Majeed, as junior scientist, is known for his contribution in plutonium reprocessing plant and the plutonium nuclear fuel cycle technology.^[4] Majeed was also a part of a team at the New Labs that had succeeded to attain the fresh supplies of weapon-grade plutonium isotopes, produced by the reactor.^[4] In 1990, Majeed was promoted and was made Director-general of Nuclear Chemistry Division (NCD) by Munir Ahmad Khan.^[4] Throughout 1990s, Dr. Majeed was responsible for underground work of nuclear reactors Khushab-I and CHASNUPP-I commercial nuclear power plant.^[5] At there, he was the director of Radiation and Nuclear Safety Division and was omitted from the weapons development teams.

He published extensively in the 1980s and 1990s on nuclear detectors and the use of x-ray diffraction, fluorescence, and crystallography to study a wide variety of materials and elements, including stainless steel, uranium, plutonium, and thorium.^[5] Due to his work for the State, he was conferred with Tamgha-e-Imtiaz which was awarded to him by Prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1998.^[5]

2001 debriefing and arrest

He was one of the founding members of a Pakistani militant NGO Organisation Ummah Tameer-e-Nau. He was accused of travelling through Afghanistan without notifying the Government of Pakistan. He was arrested in October 2001 in Islamabad by joint-operation of Inter-Services Intelligence and Federal Investigation Agency, along with fellow atomic scientist, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood, because of their connections to Talibans. The Foreign Office spokesman of Pakistan had confirmed the raid and said: "They have not been arrested and they are not under detention," the spokesperson said,"adding that they were questioned over their involvement with an Afghan relief agency founded by Mahmood. It is just an investigation to look into the credentials of various non-governmental organisations who may have been working inside Afghanistan," the spokesman added.^[6]

In hoping of quick release from the intelligence agencies and went back to research at PAEC, he confessed quickly. According to the FIA and ISI's joint-Intelligence report, which was given to the Parliament's Committee on National Security and Defence Affairs, stated that dr. Majeed confessed quickly in which he said that Osama Bin Laden did asked them to built either a radiological or a biological weapon. Majeed also confirmed Osama Bin Laden saying that he could smuggled the natural uranium from Uzbekistan. Majeed, however, clearly refused to Laden and said: it's not easy and they cannot built a nuclear bomb for him alone. He also said to Laden that: "I'm not the nuclear weapon designer and it's not easy the way it looks. The Pakistani authorities, especially the Government of Pakistan, are too sensitive and I may get arrested for nuclear trafficking which may result in ending my life".^[6]

American CIA intelligence official said that the first interrogation of the two Pakistani scientists has resulted in an assessment that Mr. Mahmood and Dr. Majeed did not know enough to help build a nuclear weapon. "These two guys were nuclear scientists who didn't know how to build one themselves," the American official said. "If you had to have guys go bad, these are the guys you'd want they didn't know much."

His family filed a petition to Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2001 but the Supreme Court announced a decision in favor of Government of Pakistan. A team of nuclear scientists, along with Pakistani Parliamentarians, under the leadership of Parliamentarian Farhatullah Babar, met with the Military and Civilian officials of Pakistani Government and requested to put dr. Majeed into house arrest. Instead of that, Mahmood was released in late December 2001 and was put in house arrest. However, Majeed was not released and was interrogated harshly. According to his family, he was not allowed to meet any of his family member, including his children and wife.

He was forcefully asked to surrender his high civilian award, Tamgha-e-Imtiaz which was conferred to him in 1998 by then-Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif. During a harsh interrogation of 5 years, he suffered a severe heart attack. That time, dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan Scandal's pressure was already getting intensified to the Government. To avoid an intense public pressure, he was taken immediately but secretly to the military hospital through a helicopter where the military doctors tried to save his life for hours. Later in the midnight, it was announced that he had died.

Aftermath and legacy

After this incident, Pakistani authorities were given order not to interrogated suspected scientists too harshly, especially dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. Pakistani Authorities also place accused scientists, specially those who were associated with Khan Labs, into house arrest with partial freedom. By the end of 2008, the charges on the Pakistani nuclear scientists were dropped by the Presidential pardon. Ch. Abdul Majeed was a known atomic physicist and he was a close associate friend of former PAEC Chairman Munir Ahmad Khan (late). According to the Pakistan Nuclear Society Press release, it said that he was mistakenly arrested and he was not involved in development of nuclear weapons. After his death, he was re-awarded his "Tamgha-e-Imtiaz" award. He was also awarded a high-civilian award "Hilal-e-Imtiaz" with a State honour from Government of Pakistan. Government of Pakistan also issued an apology letter to his family, saying that "the State will never forget his work". He was seen with respect in Pakistan. He also worked in the PAEC as an engineer. The NGO scandal heavily disturbed his imaged and his private life also. Even though, he heavily cooperated with intelligence agencies in hoping of freedom and went back to PAEC; he was declined to give any partial freedom. He was harshly interrogated for a long time which also resulted in his death. According to the dr. Bashir Syed, former President of the Association of Pakistani Scientists and Engineers of North America (APSENA), said:

"I know both of these persons and can tell you there is not an iota of truth that both these respected scientists and friends will do anything to harm the interest of their own country."

Parliamentarian Farhatullah Babar, a family friend of dr. Majeed and currently spokesperson of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, met the families of nuclear scientists recently, said:

“Dr. Majeed and Eng. Mahmood has been wronged by the government and a signal has been sent to the Pakistani scientist that they would have to defend themselves in any eventuality which becomes too hot to handle for the government.”

References

1. ^ Butt, N.M. (20 August-25 August, 2002). "Nuclear Students of Pakistan: Table 1; Some Atomic and Nuclear Physics Experiment as M.Sc. Thesis Supervised by Prof. R.M. Chaudhry". Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH). Noor Muhammad Butt and Pakistan Military Consortium. http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/army/nuclear/radiation.html. Retrieved 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Bidwai, Praful (10 November 2001). "Nuclear chickens come home". The Hindu (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India: The Hindu): pp. 49/55. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1823/18230180.htm. Retrieved 2008. 
3. ^ Albright, David; Holly Higgins (April, 2003). A Bomb for Ummah: The Others. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:N8Zux2U1DPQJ:people.reed.edu/~ahm/Courses/Stan-PS-314-2009-Q1_PNP/Syllabus/EReadings/AlbrightHiggins2003A-Bomb.pdf+sbm+probe-Sultan+Bashir-ud-Din+Mahmood&hl=en&gl=us. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e} Albright, David; Holly Higgins (30 August 2002). "Pakistani Scientists (See who is Majeed)". Institute for Science and International Security. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. http://www.exportcontrols.org/pakscientists.html. Retrieved 2008. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Albright, David; Holly Higgins (August 30, 2002). "Pakistani Nuclear Scientists:Who is Majeed". Institute for Science and International Security. Institute for Science and International Security. http://www.exportcontrols.org/pakscientists.html. Retrieved 2009. 
6. ^ ^{a b} http://www.dawn.com/2002/01/31/top4.htm

Further References

• Rahghatta,, Chidanand (2 November 2002), "U.S. Spooked by 'Spirited' Pakistani Atomic Scientist,", Times of India 

• Latif, Asmir (24 October 2001), "Two Pakistani Atomic Scientists Arrested,", Islam Online 

External links

• http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/6/162922.shtml
• http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1823/18230180.htm
• http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v414/n6859/full/414003b0.html
• http://www.trvnews.com/tsl/112901/index.html
• http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2001-10/25/article3.shtml
• http://news.indiamart.com/news-analysis/osama-s-threat-to-us-4785.html
• http://www.dawn.com/2002/01/31/top4.htm

Persondata
Name	Abdul Majeed, Chaudhry
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1937
Place of birth	Lahore, Punjab province, Pakistan
Date of death	2006
Place of death	Islamabad, Pakistan