Abdul Qadeer Khan
By September 1976 a one hundred acre site near Kahuta was personally selected, as Abdul Qadeer Khan claimed in his columns. Prime Bhutto asked Chief of Army Staff General Tikka Khan that Brigadier Akbar Khan be promoted to two-star major-general, as it was felt that the title "general" would sway with the academic scientists working on the confidential projects. As a two-star general, Zahid Ali Akbar Khan led the constructions of both the Metallurgical Laboratory in Wah Canntonment (ML) and the uranium enrichment plant in Kahuta. Originally known as Engineering Research Laboratories (ERL), the facility was renamed Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) in May 1981 by the Military President and Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq in the honor of Abdul Qadeer Khan.