New Delhi: Reviled the world over as the head of a Pakistan-based nuclear proliferation network, A Q Khan is remembered by his schoolmates and friends in his old hometown of Bhopal as an unremarkable student with a penchant for playing gilli-danda.
Khan, who was born in a modest family in Bhopal in 1935, completed his schooling from the Hamida Government Boys High
School before migrating to Pakistan in 1952.
Syed Ahmed Ayub, a retired engineer and Khan's batchmate in school, said: "When I heard in the 1980s that the controversial Pakistani scientist had studied in Bhopal, I was curious to know more about him. I checked with some other class-mates and found it was the same fellow."
"But it was difficult to recall him because he was not among the distinguished students of our batch and he did not take part in any extra-curricular activities."
Ayub said he later learnt Khan was also his neighbour in the Ginnori area of the old quarters of Bhopal. "I was told he used to play gilli-danda with the boys of the locality," he said.
Senior journalist Nasir Kamaal said: "I've never met Khan, but I met his cousin once and he told me that Khan misses Bhopal a lot."
Though some of Khan's relatives stayed back when he migrated, they later moved to Pakistan when they were placed under intense scrutiny by the police and intelligence agencies after the metallurgist's proliferation activities became public in the 1980s.
Another classmate of Khan, who did want to be named, said when an acquaintance of Khan was migrating to Pakistan, he took his address and phone number so that he could meet up with him.
The acquaintance called up Khan, who told him he would come and see him. A day before Khan arrived, the entire area around the acquaintance's home was cleaned and Khan presented him a huge amount of money when he visited, the class-mate said.
This, said Khan's class-mates, showed the influence he wielded after becoming a key player in Pakistan's nuclear programme.
Old timers in Bhopal, however, remember Khan's brother Hafeez, who was a poet, more than him.
Shahibzada Sikander Mohammed Khan, 90, a close friend of the metallurgist's family, recalled: "He would often visit our home after school and eat here. His father was a teacher in the Hamidia school and his brother was a well-known poet."
The Pakistan government this week announced Khan, who is regarded the father of that country's atomic bomb, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was placed under house arrest over two-and-a-half-years ago after admitting that he had leaked nuclear secrets and technology to countries like Libya and North Korea.
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