Pak dismisses Bhatia's allegation against Bhutto as ''absurd''

Islamabad, Jun 5 (UNI) Pakistan today termed ''absurd'' Indian journalist Shyam Bhatia's allegation in his book 'Goodbye Shahzadi' that slain premier Benazir Bhutto was involved in smuggling nuclear data to North Korea in the 1980s.

''The author has concocted an absurd story about Benazir Bhutto,'' Foreign Office spokesman Muhammad Sadiq told a press briefing here.

He said Bhatia, the author of the ''bizarre'' story, was not new to writing speculative stories slandering Pakistan and its nuclear programme.

''We do not consider the specious story worth any further comment,'' he added.

Asked as to when Pakistan would formally hand over a letter to the UN requesting it to probe Bhutto's assassination, the spokesman said it would be delivered to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon soon.

UNI XC SKB AS1731