Posted on 02/03/2004 11:21:44 PM PST by HAL9000
Pakistan's nuclear father denies admitting leaks: opposition
ISLAMABAD (AFP) -- A top Islamist opposition leader said Wednesday that the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program has denied giving any statement admitting he leaked nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
"I called Abdul Qadeer Khan on Monday and he told me that he has not given any statement," admitting to selling nuclear secrets to the three, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, chief of Pakistan's largest religious party Jammat-e-Islami told AFP.
The comments contradict a government official involved in a two-month investigation into the leaks, who told AFP on Sunday that Qadeer, for decades revered as a national hero, had confessed to being involved.
The official, who asked not to be named, told AFP that Qadeer admitted at the weekend to being "involved in leaking nuclear know-how outside Pakistan to groups working for Iran, Libya and North Korea."
Khan himself, who is under virtual house arrest in his heavily-secured Islamabad home, has not been able to speak publicly.
Ahmed criticized the government for "humiliating" the "nuclear heroes."
"Pakistan is not a signatory to any non-proliferation treaty, then why it is choosing to stand in the accused box," Ahmed said.
"Our (president) Pervez Musharraf has started treading a path which has put Pakistan's nuclear program in danger."
Ahmed said his party would use Kashmir Solidarity Day on Thursday "to condemn government policy towards nuclear scientists."
Jammat-e-Islami, he said, had already given a nationwide "shutters down" or strike call for Friday "to mobilize people against government's actions" towards Pakistan's nuclear programme.
Khan's reported statement also pointed fingers at Pakistan's military, which controls the nuclear programme.
A military official told AFP on Tuesday that Khan named ex-army chiefs Aslam Beg and Jehangir Karamat in an 11-page statement confessing to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea between 1988 and 1997.
Both Beg, who was army chief from 1988 to 1991, and Karamat, army chief from 1997 to 1998, were "thoroughly" questioned during the two month probe by Pakistani investigators.
"There was no evidence found of what A.Q. Khan was saying, so it could not be sustained," the official said.
Beg denied in interviews last week approving or being aware of the sale of nuclear secrets.
President Musharraf, who has been army chief since 1998, has categorically denied any military knowledge or approval of the nuclear leaks, and has blamed civilian scientists and international black marketeers.
More than a dozen nuclear scientists, engineers and administrators have been questioned during the probe, which was prompted by information from Iran via the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in November.
Around half have been cleared and the probe narrowed last week to three ex-military officers and three nuclear scientists.
Apart from Khan, four others have reportedly confessed to transferring nuclear expertise, but they have yet to be named, an official close to the investigation told AFP.
And also remember that India would not just sit there while nuke control in Paki is thrown around like a frisbee!
Just remember the First World War started with the assassination of some two-bit ruler in the Balkans (the killing of the duke and his wife).....a seemingly benign incident (relatively). However hell broke forth. Now, imagine a Paki civil war?
Yippee .....i think not. Now, if you were able to snatch away all the nukes in Pakistan then i mgiht even be willing to take bets with you and watch the fighting while munching on some pizza ....but while the situation is volatile over there i will pray that nothing big erupts.
Why do I have the sense that he's lying through his teeth?
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