Abdul Qadeer Khan, revered as the founding 'father' of Pakistan's nuclear program, died in Islamabad on Sunday morning. 

He was admitted to hospital in Islamabad on August 26 after testing positive for COVID-19, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan news agency. The state-run agency added that Khan had been moved to a military hospital in Rawalpindi later.

The Pakistani atomic scientist, 85, is considered a national hero for making Pakistan among the world's first Islamic nuclear powers.

However, Khan is seen as a disgraced scientist by the West as he was the center of a nuclear proliferation scandal. 

Pakistan commemorates 'national icon'

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said he was saddened by the nuclear scientist's passing. He praised Khan for being a national icon and for providing Pakistan with security against an "aggressive much larger nuclear neighbour."

The prime minister said Khan's body would be buried in Faisal Mosque in Islamabad.

Pakistani President Arif Alvi also offered his condolences, saying he knew Khan personally since 1982. He added that Khan developed "nation-saving nuclear deterrence" and Pakistan would forever be indebted to him for that.

Thousands of people attended Khan's funeral in Islamabad, according to footage aired by local broadcasters.

A controversial figure

Khan was accused of illegally trading nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya, and North Korea. 

In 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, named  Khan as a primary suspect of a sprawling nuclear network that involved sales of nuclear technology to several countries around the world.

The IAEA was investigating how Iran and others had gotten hold of nuclear technology to create weapons.

In the same year, Khan confessed to having shared nuclear secrets with those countries on national TV. 

Pervez Musharraf, who was Pakistan's president at the time, said he would accept a written apology from Khan. 

Musharraf eventually pardoned Khan and placed him under house arrest for five years.

While confessing to his actions on TV, Khan said he had acted alone and without the knowledge of state officials. Years later, Khan said he was scapegoated.

"I saved the country for the first time when I made Pakistan a nuclear national icon and saved it again when I confessed and took the whole blame on myself," he told the French AFP news agency in an interview in 2008.

He lived out of the public eye after his house arrest was lifted in 2009. 

Early life

Khan was born into a modest family in Bhopal in British-ruled India in 1936. He migrated to Pakistan in 1952, following the country's partition from India in 1947.

Khan graduated from the University of Karachi with a degree in metallurgy in 1960. He then moved to West Germany and Belgium to complete a master's and a doctorate degree, respectively, in metallurgical engineering. 

In the early 1970s, Khan took a job at a uranium enrichment plant run by Urenco, a consortium of British, German, and Dutch companies. He returned to Pakistan a few years later to head the nation's nuclear program. 

rm/fb (AFP, AP, Reuters)