Musharraf pardons Khan, says no to UN watchdog or an independent probe

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf today pardoned top scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who admitted leaking nuclear arms secrets to Iran,...

Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf today pardoned top scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who admitted leaking nuclear arms secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea and said he would not allow international supervision of Pakistan’s atomic programme.

‘‘There is a written mercy appeal from his side and there is a written pardon from my side,’’ Musharraf told a news briefing, referring to Khan who made a televised confession to nuclear proliferation on Wednesday.

Musharraf also said Pakistan would not hand over documents to UN nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

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‘‘This is a sovereign country. No document will be given. No independent investigation will take place here.’’

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.

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			A Washington Post editorial says: Story continues below this ad • Pak guilty of some of the worst crimes of proliferation ever committed • Supplying bomb tech to rogue states and terror sponsors for 15 yrs • Pak peddled knowhow despite Bush warning that governments could invite pre-emptive strikes • US must confront reality that Pak military has done more to threaten US and global security with WMDs than Al Qaeda or Saddam Story continues below this ad

But Western diplomats doubt he could have acted alone in leaking nuclear know-how and hardware. Pakistan’s nuclear programme, seen at home as a vital deterrent to old enemy India, has been under military control for most of the past 28 years.

Musharraf said documents from more than two months of investigations would not be handed over, although he did not rule out cooperation with the IAEA if its officials wanted to travel to Pakistan to discuss the case in more detail. When asked what Khan’s motivation was for illegally peddling nuclear secrets abroad, Musharraf replied: ‘‘Money, obviously.’’

He also explained why Khan had been given so much independence in his pursuit of a nuclear bomb from the 1970s.

‘‘You want to go forward and be a nuclear state,’’ he said. ‘‘One cannot be that intrusive for fear that what you desire may not be accomplished. They were the complexities of the time.’’

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He repeated earlier statements that Khan, and not the government or the military, were to blame.

‘‘All the proliferation unfortunately was under the supervision and orders of Dr A Q Khan. No government official or military man was involved.’’

He said former Army chiefs, Generals Aslam Beg and Jehangir Karamat, had been questioned but were cleared. — (Reuters)