After a two-month probe into charges of nuclear proliferation, Pakistani investigators have found that the father of its nuclear weapons program and a top aide had black-market contacts that supplied sensitive technology to Iran and Libya, intelligence officials said on Wednesday.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, long revered as a national hero, and Mohammed Farooq, former director-general of a key nuclear facility, also have failed to account for funds in their personal bank accounts, the officials said on condition of anonymity.
But both scientists are denying they helped Iran and Libya, the officials said as the investigation nears an end.
"These are the two people who had links and contacts with those who have been supplying many things to those countries who wanted to become nuclear powers," one official said.
Another intelligence official said Khan had been shown documents and other material and had acknowledged his contacts with dealers who worked for him in the past, but he denied he had profited or played any role in supplying technology to either Iran or Libya.
"He says he is the victim of an international conspiracy," the official said.
Critics in Pakistan have accused President General Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, of caving in to international pressure by detaining and interrogating respected scientists who gave the Islamic country its nuclear deterrent against rival India.
The US said on Wednesday it has been assured by Musharraf that Pakistan wasn't involved in the nuclear trade.
"President Musharraf has assured us that, one, that was part of the past, and the past is the past. We've made that very clear," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said on Wednesday in Washington.
There is growing international concern about the "black market" in nuclear technology that circumvents restrictions on its supply.
Pakistan began its investigation into its nuclear program and possible proliferation to Iran in late November after admissions made by Tehran to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog based in Vienna, Austria. Allegations also have surfaced that Pakistani technology spread to Libya and North Korea.
The government has publicly said "one or two people" acted for personal profit, but denies there was any official authorization for nuclear transfers to other countries at any time since the Pakistani nuclear program was launched by Khan in the early 1970s.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS