Islamabad, April 07: Detained Pakistani nuclear
scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said that he took the blame four
years ago for passing atomic secrets to Iran, North Korea and
Libya in order to "save his country".
Khan, who has been under effective house arrest since
confessing on television in 2004 to running a proliferation
network, added that the country's new government had not yet
contacted him about his possible release.
Khan was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf after his
confession but has remained under detention. Musharraf denied
any state involvement in Khan's activities but has rejected
international requests to quiz the scientist.
"I saved the country for the first time when I made
Pakistan a nuclear nation and saved it again when I confessed
and took the whole blame on myself," khan told said in a
telephone interview from his Islamabad villa late yesterday.
Khan is hailed as a hero by many Pakistanis for
transforming the country into the Islamic world's first
nuclear power. Pakistan carried out nuclear tests in 1998 in
response to detonations by neighbouring India.
"Even Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain (former prime minister)
and Mushahid Hussain (a Senator from the party that backs
Musharraf) said I saved Pakistan by accepting the whole blame
myself," he added.
Musharraf's political allies were routed in elections in
February and a new government formed by slain opposition
leader Benazir Bhutto's party and the grouping of former
premier Nawaz Sharif has taken power.
Members of the new government have indicated that they
may consider freeing Khan as they review Musharraf's policies
over the last nine years and seek to roll back his powers.
But Khan said he had had no contact with the new
administration.
Khan was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006 and was
briefly hospitalised last month with complications.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, April 07, 2008, 00:00