Former Pak army chief claims nuclear scientist AQ Khan is "next target of US agents"

Islamabad, Feb 26(ANI): Former Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg has claimed that the American agents' network is spread throughout the country, and that their next target is disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

"(Nuclear scientist) Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan is the next target of US agents," The Nation quoted Gen. Beg, as saying to a TV channel.

"They (the US agents) are working from Karachi to Gilgit under the patronage of former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf," he added.

Khan is known as the architect of Pakistan's nuclear programme, and is accused of illegally transferring nuke know-how to China, North Korea and Iran.

The US maintains that the A Q Khan network is responsible for some of the most serious cases of nuclear proliferation in recent decades.

"We have worked intensively with Pakistan and other countries to shut down that network," US State Department spokesperson P J Crowley said in August last year.

"While A Q Khan himself is out of business, according to the Government of Pakistan, we watch his network very closely for signs that others within his realm are still in business," he told a regular press briefing. (ANI)