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Pakistan: Nuclear network dismantled
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-06 08:50
Pakistan said Thursday it had taken all "appropriate action" to break up the
underground nuclear network run by its former chief nuclear scientist Abdul
Qadeer Khan.
Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri made the remarks one day after a British
newspaper alleged Khan's network may still be in operation. The Guardian report
cited an unidentified European Union source.
"Pakistan is very sorry and is very upset and has taken all appropriate
action in dismantling the underground network," Kasuri said. "Dr. A.Q. Khan has
fallen from the high pedestal that he had," he said, adding that Khan had
already been "treated very harshly."
Kasuri was speaking after meeting Taro Aso, the Japanese minister for foreign
affairs, in Islamabad.
Pakistan said it had dealt sternly with its
disgraced nuclear hero Abdul Qadeer Khan (in picture) who ran a
clandestine proliferation network, but other countries had not taken
similar action against other people
involved.[AFP] | Khan, the founding father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, acknowledged
in February 2004 that he gave sensitive nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea
and Libya. President Bush has labeled North Korea and Iran part of an "axis of
evil" and analysts say both countries pose a potential nuclear threat.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf pardoned Khan in 2004. He has been under
house arrest amid tight security in Pakistan's capital.
Kasuri said Pakistan had already shared information with Japan, the United
States and several European countries on Khan's network.
The now disgraced Khan is still hailed as a hero by many in Pakistan for
turning it into an atomic power to match rival India. Both countries carried out
nuclear tests in 1998.
During a two-day visit ending Thursday, Aso met Pakistan's prime minister and
Musharraf.
The two countries agreed to set up a working group for discussions on
disarmament, nonproliferation, dual use technology, the peaceful uses of nuclear
energy, nuclear safety and space technology, the Foreign Ministry said in a
statement.
At their meeting, Kasuri and Aso also signed an agreement under which Japan
will provide loans to Pakistan to aid recovery from the Oct. 8 quake that left
about 87,000 people dead and 3.5 million homeless in northwestern Pakistan and
Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.
Japan has provided $200 million in quake relief to Pakistan, Kasuri
said.
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