Pakistan's president yesterday pardoned a scientist who admitted leaking nuclear arms secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea and said he would not allow international supervision of Pakistan's atomic program.
"There is a written mercy appeal from his side and there is a written pardon from my side," President Pervez Musharraf told a news briefing, referring to top scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who made a televised confession to nuclear proliferation on Wednesday.
Earlier yesterday, the Cabinet had recommended to Musharraf that Khan be pardoned.
The pardon headed off a showdown with the political and religious groups which strongly opposed punishment for Khan.
Musharraf accepted the scientist's plea for mercy after he admitted the leaks in a televised apology.
"Whatever I have done, I have tried to shield him," Musharraf said of Khan. But he noted "one has to balance between international requirements and shielding."
"You cannot shield a hero and damage the nation," Musharraf said at a combative and emotional news conference. He wore military camouflage fatigues.
He said documents from more than two months of investigations would not be handed over to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"This is a sovereign country. No document will be given. No independent investigation will take place here," he said.
However, he did not rule out cooperation with the IAEA if its officials wanted to travel to Pakistan to discuss the case in more detail.
Pakistani commentators have called for a full investigation into the proliferation scandal, saying Khan has been used as a scapegoat to cover up military involvement.
Musharraf warned local journalists not to speculate further on the military's role in peddling nuclear secrets, saying it would not be in the national interest.
In his confession, Khan took full responsibility for the scandal, absolving the government and his fellow scientists of any blame.
But Western diplomats doubt he could have acted alone in leaking nuclear know-how and hardware. Pakistan's nuclear program, seen at home as a vital deterrent to India, has been under military control for most of the past 28 years.
Musharraf refused to give further details about the pardon, a decision he said was made on the recommendation of the National Command Authority -- which controls the country's nuclear assets -- and the Cabinet. He declined to address the reported fortune that Khan amassed through sales of nuclear technology.
There had been no decision on six other suspects detained in the investigation, Musharraf said.
In Vienna, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei promised further investigations into the nuclear black market and said experts need to overhaul export controls on nuclear components in light of Khan's admissions.
"Dr. Khan is the tip of an iceberg," ElBaradei said yesterday. "We still have a lot of work to do."
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