Opposition parties, political and military experts and relatives of detained officials on Monday questioned Pakistan's assertion that the founder of the country's nuclear program had shared technology with Iran, Libya and North Korea for more than a decade without the knowledge of his superiors.
"This is cock-and-bull story," said Dr. Muhammad Shafiq, 39, the son of a retired Pakistani army brigadier accused of participating in the scheme. "If you want to believe it, believe it. The truth is nowhere near this story."
In a background briefing to 20 Pakistani journalists on Sunday night, a senior Pakistani official said the scientist, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, had confessed to covertly sharing nuclear secrets with Iran, Libya and North Korea from 1989 to 2000. US officials said parts of the government's account matched events tracked by US intelligence and that nuclear aid from Pakistan had flowed to North Korea in 2002 and Libya last fall.
Khan and his close relatives could not be reached for comment on Monday. A man who answered the telephone at Khan's home, which is now surrounded by security officials, said he was not present. Shafiq, the son of the detained brigadier said to have aided Khan, said he did not expect Khan's family to comment until the government announced whether it will prosecute.
A senior official declined to give further details about what the government has said was a sprawling smuggling network that involved German and Dutch middlemen, chartered planes and covert meetings between Khan and Iranian and Libyan scientists. If the government account is true, Khan and the middlemen carried out one of the most complex schemes ever to evade international efforts to control nuclear weapons.
In a telephone interview on Monday, Zahid Malik, Khan's official biographer, said he had not spoken to the scientist for 10 days. Government officials ordered him on Sunday night to stop publicly commenting on the case, he said. "I cannot say anything categorical," he said when asked about the confession. "I have not met the gentleman I still have so much regard for."
Those who questioned the government's account said Monday that they were skeptical that Khan had acted without the approval of the country's powerful military leadership. Some suggested that Khan had agreed to confess to a version of events that put the army in a good light in exchange for a promise that the military-dominated government would not prosecute him.
The account of events given by the senior government official on Sunday also raised questions about General Mirza Aslam Beg, the chief of Pakistan's army from 1988-1991. The senior official said Khan had told investigators that Beg urged him to share nuclear technology with Iran.
Beg has acknowledged that in 1991 he proposed that Pakistan form a military alliance with Iran and Afghanistan to thwart what he thought was an impending US invasion of all three countries. But he said he never approved the transfer of nuclear technology.
"I would not be stupid enough to do such a thing," Beg said in a telephone interview on Monday. "I know what my responsibility is."
Beg said the security of the nuclear program had not been his responsibility. The country's nuclear labs were under the control of the country's president and prime minister at the time, he said.
"KRL was not under my command," Beg said, referring to Khan Research Laboratories. "It was not my responsibility."
Some political and military experts accused Beg of making false statements. They said the country's army has maintained tight control over the nuclear program since its inception in 1974. Pakistan's army has ruled the country for most of its modern history.
"He is lying," said Ayesha Siddiqa, a defense analyst, referring to Beg. "They are trying to protect a lot of names."
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person