Pakistan's president yesterday pardoned a scientist who admitted leaking nuclear arms secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea and said he would not allow international supervision of Pakistan's atomic program.
"There is a written mercy appeal from his side and there is a written pardon from my side," President Pervez Musharraf told a news briefing, referring to top scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who made a televised confession to nuclear proliferation on Wednesday.
Earlier yesterday, the Cabinet had recommended to Musharraf that Khan be pardoned.
The pardon headed off a showdown with the political and religious groups which strongly opposed punishment for Khan.
Musharraf accepted the scientist's plea for mercy after he admitted the leaks in a televised apology.
"Whatever I have done, I have tried to shield him," Musharraf said of Khan. But he noted "one has to balance between international requirements and shielding."
"You cannot shield a hero and damage the nation," Musharraf said at a combative and emotional news conference. He wore military camouflage fatigues.
He said documents from more than two months of investigations would not be handed over to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"This is a sovereign country. No document will be given. No independent investigation will take place here," he said.
However, he did not rule out cooperation with the IAEA if its officials wanted to travel to Pakistan to discuss the case in more detail.
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.
But Western diplomats doubt he could have acted alone in leaking nuclear know-how and hardware. Pakistan's nuclear program, seen at home as a vital deterrent to India, has been under military control for most of the past 28 years.
Musharraf refused to give further details about the pardon, a decision he said was made on the recommendation of the National Command Authority -- which controls the country's nuclear assets -- and the Cabinet. He declined to address the reported fortune that Khan amassed through sales of nuclear technology.
There had been no decision on six other suspects detained in the investigation, Musharraf said.
In Vienna, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei promised further investigations into the nuclear black market and said experts need to overhaul export controls on nuclear components in light of Khan's admissions.
"Dr. Khan is the tip of an iceberg," ElBaradei said yesterday. "We still have a lot of work to do."
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said it plans to revise the export control list for strategic high-tech products by adding 18 items under three categories — advanced 3D printing equipment, advanced semiconductor equipment and quantum computers — which would require local manufacturers to obtain licenses for their export. The ministry’s announcement yesterday came as the International Trade Administration issued a 60-day preview period for planned revisions to the Export Control List for Dual Use Items and Technology (軍商兩用貨品及技術出口管制清單) and the Common Military List (一般軍用貨品清單), which fall under regulations governing export destinations for strategic high-tech commodities and specific strategic high-tech commodities. The
RSS