Washington, Pretr. A Pakistani-American has pleaded guilty to illegally exporting sensitive computer equipment to Pakistan’s nuclear research agency.
The US Justice Department said 66-year-old Obaidullah Syed could be sentenced on February 23. Syed could face a maximum sentence of five years. Apart from this, a fine of Rs 1.85 crore can also be imposed.
Syed owns Pakistan-based Business Systems International and Chicago-based BSI USA, two companies that sell high-performance computing platforms, servers and software.
Syed admitted during interrogation that during 2006 to 2015, he illegally exported computer equipment from the US through his company in Pakistan and provided them to the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission. Permission was not obtained from official US authorities before exporting these devices.
Syed has been found accused of harming America’s national security, foreign policy and economy.
Apart from this, Pakistan’s famous nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadir Khan has passed away this month. He was 85 years old. He was considered the father of Pakistan’s nuclear program. Abdul Qadir Khan also had a relation with India. He was born on April 1, 1936 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. During partition, he went to Pakistan with his family.
Qadeer Khan was the first citizen of Pakistan to be honored with three Presidential Awards. Apart from this, twice Nishan-e-Imtiaz and once Hilal-e-Imtiaz were awarded.
He was accused of being involved in global nuclear proliferation. In 2004, Khan confessed to helping North Korea supply the supplies needed to build a nuclear weapon for Libya. Last month,
Abdul Qadir Khan said that he had been ailing for a long time but that Prime Minister Imran Khan or any member of his cabinet had not taken his health. He was hospitalized for a long time.
