By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The father of Pakistan's nuclear program told investigators he gave atomic weapons technology to other countries with the full knowledge of top army officials, including now-President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a friend of the scientist said Tuesday.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, also told the leader of the country's top Islamic party that he did not sign a confession about transfers of nuclear technology, as the government claims, the party said.
Khan spoke with Qazi Hussain Ahmed, head of Jamaat-e-Islami, and told him he eventually will disclose his side of the story but, for now, his case "is in the court of God Almighty," party spokesman Ameer ul-Azeem said.
The party has called for a nationwide protest Friday to support Khan and other detained scientists.
Khan told a friend he had not violated Pakistan's laws by giving out-of-use machines for enriching uranium to Iran, North Korea and other countries, the friend told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
"Whatever I did, it was in the knowledge of the bosses," Khan's friend quoted him as saying.
The scientist also said that two former military chiefs — Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg and Gen. Jehangir Karamat — and Musharraf were "aware of everything" he was doing, the friend said.
"I am also convinced that (Khan) couldn't act unilaterally," the friend added.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan denied Musharraf was privy to any transfer of nuclear technology or authorized Khan to do it.
"It is absolutely wrong," Sultan said, adding that Musharraf "was not involved in any such matter. No such thing has happened since he seized power in 1999."
Musharraf has headed the army since 1998, and before that held a number of top positions in the military.
Khan, who gave Pakistan the Islamic world's first nuclear bomb, was removed Sunday from his post as scientific adviser to the prime minister after confessing to investigators he leaked nuclear secrets to other countries.
The admission shocked many in Pakistan, and raised questions about how the scientist could have spread nuclear technology without consent of the military — which has often ruled Pakistan since the country gained independence from Britain in 1947.
The two retired army chiefs, Karamat and Beg, told investigators they did not authorize nuclear transfers. Musharraf and other government officials have repeatedly ruled out official involvement in proliferation.
Officials said Tuesday that Khan smuggled high-tech centrifuges — used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons — and other equipment to Iran, Libya, North Korea and Malaysia through an international black market network.
In some cases, he used chartered planes to smuggle the equipment, a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.
The official said two individuals, from Sri Lanka and Germany, operated on behalf of Khan in smuggling that began in the 1980s and continued at least until 1997.
Pakistan began probing allegations of nuclear proliferation in November after Iran and Libya gave information to the U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency.
So far, investigators have questioned two former heads of the army, scientists, engineers and security officials to determine whether they knew about the leak of nuclear technology to other countries.
Authorities are focusing on seven suspects — three scientists, including Khan, and four former security officials at Khan Research Laboratories, or KRL, a nuclear weapons facility named after Khan.
Investigators told Pakistani journalists Sunday that Khan did not sell nuclear technology for personal gain.
But two intelligence officials said Tuesday that money was a motivation.
"Definitely money was involved in this game," a senior intelligence official involved in the probe said on condition of anonymity.
Another official said on condition of anonymity, "For us, it was shocking that KRL's equipment was moved out of Pakistan, and we knew nothing. It was a misuse of authority, a breach of confidence and nothing else."
He said Khan "gave access to scientists and engineers from Iran and North Korea to our nuclear facilities" and met them outside the lab.
A close aide to Khan — Mohammed Farooq, who has been detained in the probe — was sent to Iran to help their scientists and was a key figure in the international nuclear black market, the official said.