Nuclear Scientists Being Questioned In Pakistan

Dow Jones Newswires ^ | December 11,2003 | The Associated Press

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Two scientists at Pakistan's top nuclear laboratory have been taken into custody for questioning, sources said Thursday.

The nuclear scientists at the Khan Research Laboratories were being interrogated after complaints were made against them, said a government official and two Pakistanis affiliated with the country's nuclear programs. All three spoke on condition of anonymity.

Confirming reports in three Pakistani newspapers Thursday, the sources identified the two detained men as Yasin Chohan and Mohammad Farooq, the former director general at the facility. Farooq also is a former aide to the founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who had the research laboratories named after him.

The sources declined to describe the complaints that were made against Chohan and Farooq, or where they originated. They also denied a story in Thursday's Nation newspaper saying that the two men were being interrogated about their alleged links with Iran's nuclear program.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation, has been accused of sharing its technological know-how with other nations, a charge it fiercely denies. The KRL is the country's main nuclear weapons laboratory where uranium is enriched, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

[Calpernia]

ping

[epluribus_2]

we may wish for our readers here to restate a small area of Koranic teaching - it is the sacred duty of all muslims in the house of peace (Dar Is-Salaam) to convert all pagans, jews, and christians in the house of war (Dar Il-Harb), by force if necessary. Actually, the koran seems to imply force is preferred, and admonished the Prophet for taking too many prisoners without sufficient mass killing when conquering disbelieving nations. /End of public service informational content.

[Stultis]

Jamaat-e-Islami is up in arms. Their love of untrammled scientific freedom is second only to their devotion to killing Jews, "Crusaders," Native Christians, Shias, and beardless Sunnis.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

From NTI Global Security Newswire:

Authorities Detain Two Pakistani Nuclear Scientists

Two Pakistani nuclear scientists have been taken into custody amid suspicion that they might have been involved in transferring nuclear technology to Iran, Pakistani opposition lawmakers said today (see GSN, Jan. 30).

According to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) political party, Farooq Muhammad, head of Pakistan’s main uranium enrichment facility Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL); and KRL laboratory director Yasin Chohan were arrested this month. The two men are believed to be held by FBI agents, the PML-N said.

“According to our information, the FBI is holding Director General Dr. Farooq and Laboratory Director Yasin Chohan with the assistance of Pakistani agencies,” the party said in a statement.

A Pakistani government spokesman refused to confirm or deny that the two scientists had been arrested, saying that Pakistani nuclear scientists routinely took part in “personnel dependability and debriefing programs” (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Dec. 11).

A Pakistani Foreign Office senior official has denied that Islamabad has provided nuclear technology to other countries.

“The allegations that Pakistan has cooperated with any country in the nuclear field are baseless and malicious. There is no substance whatsoever,” the official said (Xinhua News Agency, Dec. 11).

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Thanks, EMB. :)