Pakistani nuclear scientist Khan is stable: wife

ISLAMABAD, Oct 29 (Reuters) The condition of Pakistan's disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan has stabilised after getting treatment for deep vein thrombosis, his wife said today.

Henny Khan said yesterday her husband's condition had deteriorated after he was diagnosed as suffering from deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot, usually in a vein in the lower leg.

Khan had been recovering from surgery for prostrate cancer in early September.

''Initially, his condition deteriorated but now it is stable,'' she told Reuters.

''It hasn't been totally cured. It will take time.'' Admired in Pakistan as the father of its atomic bomb, Khan has been under house arrest in the capital Islamabad since an investigation was launched against him in 2003 after he confessed to passing on nuclear secrets and materials to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

President Pervez Musharraf, a close ally of United States in its war on terror, has described Khan's confession as one of the most embarrassing events of his presidency.

While Pakistan says it has shared information gleaned from Khan to the International Atomic Energy Agency, it has refused to give US investigators direct access to him.

Pakistani experts were still asking Khan questions lodged by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the European Union and countries including Japan and South Korea, a senior Pakistani military official said in Washington last week.

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