India didn't know about Pak's nuke power 13-14 years: A Q Khan

Rawalpindi, Jan. 10 (ANI): Pakistan's nuclear scientist Dr. A Q Khan has revealed that 13-14 years after Pakistan acquired a nuclear bomb, India had no clue about Pakistan's nuclear power.

Recalling a 1998 statement by then Home Minister L K Advani that Pakistan should be submissive in talks with India because it was talking to a nuclear power, Khan said India perhaps did not know that Pakistan had become a nuclear power 13-14 years before.

The News quoted Khan as saying that he told Indian journalist Kuldip Nair that if India ever tried to bring some harm to Pakistan at any stage, Pakistan would strike back with all the might and India would have to face the consequences.

Addressing the Rawalpindi District Bar Association here on Saturday, Khan said that he has got a chance to address a public meeting after six long years because he was kept in detention for allegedly leaking nuclear secrets of Pakistan to some other countries.

Khan said Pakistan would never again face a 1971 like situation, as it is now a nuclear power.

"No country can ever dare cast an evil eye on it," Khan said.

Previous government wasted his six valuable years in which he could have come out with new technologies for the safety of the countrymen, he said.

He, however, expressed satisfaction over the fact that the nation has displayed strong determination to safeguard the nuclear programme, come what may.

"We can meet other challenges and resolve other crises if we are armed with honesty and commitment," he said. (ANI)