Some possibilities, too frightening to be discussed in detail, can only be alluded to or adumbrated. But first things first, making a clean breast, perhaps, is not the right expression for what could also be called a valedictory message to the nation from the architect of the nuclear defence programme, as he is generally acknowledged to be, above all by the foreign ill-wishers of Pakistan who inspired the vicious media blitzkrieg against him.
He confessed to no crime other than some errors of judgement and stretching his independence as the Kahuta chief beyond the limits of propriety, which did not become of a scientist of his stature.
Call it a confession if you like, besides the 12-page document he is reported to have signed, on the basis of which his appeal for pardon was granted by President Musharraf.
This is, however, not to claim infallibility or total innocence for him. He was exposed to the temptations of absolute authority and the corruptive concomitants of absolutism in all forms, and did fall prey to them as the President confirmed in his broadcast on Thursday.
Yet none of it detracts even an iota from his achievements and singular services to the country.
Whatever his faults and lapses may have been, no fair-minded person can have any doubt about the shameful fact that the idol of millions was ruthlessly diabolized in a media indictment consistently fed from day to day by various official sources in a brazen attempt to outdo one another in sensationalising the account of their investigations.
They fell just short of labelling him as the enemy number one of Pakistan who had amassed mountains of wealth in an unlawful manner and was employing it for personal aggrandisement.
Some of them cut a pathetic figure indeed when in one breath they conceded he was a national hero and in the other suggested that he had to be tried for his misconduct, like any other criminal, under the law of the land.
And all these weeks of character assassination, Qadeer Khan's lips remained sealed until last Wednesday's dramatic meeting with President General Musharraf, and his confession and appeal for pardon.
Conceding for a moment that the barrage of charges against him was largely based on facts, the anguish he must have suffered in virtual solitary confinement can hardly be captured in words; from a paradise of glory he had plunged into an inferno of infamy.
In a succinct comment, which may sound an exaggeration to some, Chaudhry Shujaat Husain, the leader of the ruling party at the centre, described Dr Khan's statement as a great service to the country, on a par with his dazzling success in the realm of nuclear research.
In assuming exclusive responsibility for whatever proliferation took place in his own and his Kahuta colleagues' dealings with Iran, Libya and North Korea, he completely absolved the governments, past and present, and the Army of any blame in respect of an unauthorised activity in contravention of the national policy.
The sincerity of this confession is self-evident. Any other self-serving mortal would have instinctively claimed that he was only complying with the instructions of his superiors, to save his own skin as the interaction in a top secret affair being verbal most of the time it would have been very, very difficult to prove him wrong.
The nuclear programme now placed under comprehensive government control in the shape of National Command Authority that chapter of whimsical, wayward or sordid activities by individuals involved in scientific research is now closed.
And that is what probably lay at the back of his mind when Dr Khan solemnly assured the nation that the ugly story will not be repeated in the future.
President Musharraf reinforced the assurance when he disclosed that since the induction of the National Command Authority the security of nuclear installations, formerly managed by Dr Khan himself, has been taken over by the Army.
Dr Khan's heroic confession has cleared the murky situation to a considerable extent and established beyond doubt that now at least the government of Pakistan is in firm control of its nuclear assets.
But, to be honest, the country is not yet out of the woods, nor can President Musharraf relax, while the Western media is replete with hints of a storm being raised about the country's capability to shut the door on the export of nuclear technology.
The Western perception, as reflected in its media, was by far the gravest of the dangers named by the President at his press conference on Thursday.
The President warned in the plainest language that failure on any of these counts - nuclear proliferation, terrorism in Afghanistan and Kashmir, and religious extremism - the consequences may be unimaginably disastrous.
The Western psyche and will to secure their economic interests and political purposes are writ large on the minefields of Afghanistan and the ruins of the state infrastructure in Iraq.
The Iranians and the Libyan have made no mistake about it, and almost managed to escape it, though at the cost of Pakistan, which they blamed for supply them nuclear technology.
Iran first, and Libya first and let the devil take the hindmost. President Musharraf has been at pains all along during his reign to teach the same motto to his people but without much success.
He did set a great example himself, though, by his courageous decision to de-canonise his hero and people's hero, Dr A.Q. Khan, and graciously pardon him in acknowledgement of his epoch-making contribution to the defence of Pakistan.