Dr Khan refuses to comment on nuke proliferation expose by Times

Islamabad, Sep 26(ANI): Father of Pakistan's nuclear programme, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has refused to comment about the genuineness of a controversial letter published by a British newspaper, that has exposed the Pakistan Government's role in nuclear proliferation activities that included exchanging and passing blue-prints and equipment to China, Iran, North Korea, and Libya.

Dr Khan has been reluctant to confirm or deny the issues which have been raised in the letter, saying that: "I cannot comment on the report of Sunday Times because I have so far not gone through it,"

"As the matter of my alleged involvement in nuclear proliferation is sub judice, I cannot comment on the new media report. I have become tired of clarifying my position, but I know that this is an unending controversy," The Dawn quoted Dr Kahn, as saying.

The expose came from a letter, which Khan had written to his wife Hendrina Khan in December 2003, in which he mentioned that all the activities were done on the orders of the Pakistani government and military, and he was forced to take all the criticism that had followed.

"The b******* first used us and are now playing dirty games with us. If the government plays any mischief with me take a tough stand. They might try to get rid of me to cover up all the things they got done by me," a news channel had quoted Khan's letter, as saying.

"Probably with the blessings of BB [Benazir Bhutto, who became prime minister in 1988] and [a now-retired general]... General Imtiaz [Benazir's defence adviser, now dead] asked... me to give a set of drawings and some components to the Iranians...The names and addresses of suppliers were also given to the Iranians," The Times quoted from Khan's letter.

Earlier in January 2004, Khan had forcefully confessed to having been involved in a clandestine international network of nuclear weapons technology proliferation from Pakistan to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

And in an August 23, 2005, General Pervez Musharraf had confirmed that Khan had supplied gas centrifuges and gas centrifuge parts to North Korea and, possibly, an amount of uranium hexafluoride. (ANI)