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."
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS