Islamabad: Disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has said US intelligence estimates of Pakistan's nuclear programme were 10 years behind the country's actual nuclear status.
"When CIA sent a letter saying we had crossed the five per cent threshold, we had made several bombs by then," The Express Tribune quoted Dr Khan, as saying.
He also claimed that Pakistan completed its nuclear program without the help of any foreign country.
Dr Khan said he had written to then Pakistan president, General Ziaul Haq, in a letter dated December 10, 1984, that his department was ready to conduct a nuclear explosion at a week's notice. However, he pointed out that it was not till Benazir Bhutto became Prime Minister that Pakistan started its missile programme.
Dr Khan said they built a successful nuclear warhead by 1984, at a maximum estimated cost of USD 250 million, funded internally through off-the-book allocations from developmental budgets.
ANI
First Published: Tuesday, May 29, 2012, 16:33