Islamabad accused of nuclear 'cover-up'

New York Times ^ | Edward Luce

[milestogo]

February 13, 2004

Islamabad accused of nuclear 'cover-up'

By Edward Luce in Islamabad

Relatives of six scientists who worked with A.Q. Khan, the disgraced "father of the Islamic bomb", have accused Islamabad of indulging in a cover-up to protect the Pakistani military from being tainted by the nuclear proliferation scandal.

The Pakistani government alleges that the scientists, five of whom have been held since 17 January and one since 27 November, "passed on" nuclear materials, designs and machinery to "foreign countries" - thought to be Libya, Iran and North Korea.

Last week, General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, pardoned A.Q. Khan after he had confessed on television to having been the kingpin of the nuclear proliferation racket. In a speech last Wednesday, George W. Bush, US president, upheld Gen Musharraf's view that A.Q. Khan and his colleagues had acted alone and for financial motives.

However, relatives of the six scientists, who are being held at undisclosed locations and have not been permitted access to lawyers, say that on Monday they intend to present evidence showing that the scientists could not have transferred the materials from Khan Research Laboratories without being detected.

They say that the site - at which A.Q. Khan enriched uranium needed for nuclear weapons - was closely guarded by Pakistani troops and agents working for Inter-Services Intelligence, Pakistan's equivalent of the CIA.

The relatives will argue that it would have been impossible to smuggle centrifuge components out of the KRL site. They plan to present organisational details of the KRL site showing the degree to which the intelligence services were integrated with the rest of the operations.

Pakistani officials say that the intense security was to protect against external threats. They also say that the scientists were given a lot of autonomy because of the covert nature of Pakistan's nuclear programme.

"You cannot get radioactive bits of machinery past such tight security without being discovered," Shafiq Sajawal, whose father, Sajawal Khan, 66, was head of maintenance and construction at the KLR, told the Financial Times.

"They [the scientists] are being scapegoated by the Pakistan government. We will call on the government to conduct a transparent investigation under due process of law."

In a submission to the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore high court this week, the Pakistani government said it was detaining the scientists for another three months under a law that would classify the six men as a security threat to the country.

Pakistani officials say that the men were "rogue scientists", led by A.Q. Khan, who operated without the knowledge of any higher authority. But relatives say they have been declared guilty without trial.

"To the best of our knowledge, none of them have been mentioned by the IAEA [the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Authority]," said Asim Farooq, son of Mohammed Farooq, 54, head of the processing engineering division at KRL. "We want a fair and open inquiry."

Sheikh Rashid, Pakistan's minister for information, would not comment on the relatives' specific allegations but said they should await the outcome of the government investigation.

[KQQL]

islam a bad...hmmm interesting name...

[tessalu]

Yes, many of the Pakistani cities have "bad" names.

[Bobby777]

Islamabad accused of nuclear 'cover-up'

if the shoe fits ...

[risk]

A little proliferation here, a little proliferation there, what's a few nuclear capable states or terrorist groups between friends?

I guess Danny Pearl might have been learning more about this than he expected...

I could have posted a different picture, but I think this one is disturbing enough. Danny, where ever you are tonight, we will never forget you.