Hundreds of Muslim hard-liners demonstrated in support of Pakistan's detained nuclear scientists, men hailed as national heroes for creating the Islamic world's first nuclear weapon and now implicated in the sale of weapons technology to Iran.
The demonstrations Sunday in a town bordering the capital confronted President Pervez Musharraf -- already much-maligned by religious conservatives for joining the US-led war on terror -- with yet more strong Islamist opposition as his government tackles the nuclear proliferation crisis.
The president, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, finds himself torn between satisfying international demands to clean up the weapons program while keeping the country's nuclear capability intact -- a strong source of Pakistani pride as the Islamic world's first nuclear power.
"Pakistan is being singled out," said Khalid Mahmood, senior research fellow at Islamabad's Institute of Regional Studies.
Others, however, saw the crackdown differently.
"They think these scientists should not be touched, which is not correct," said Talat Masood, a retired general and political and military analyst. "Any departure from that is considered a betrayal."
Several hundred supporters of the radical Islamic opposition coalition Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal followed a truck with blaring megaphones through Rawalpindi, which borders Islamabad, the capital.
"We will never accept blame being leveled against the nuclear scientists," said MMA leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed. "The nuclear heroes made these nuclear weapons for us -- that's why India never dared to touch us."
Eight scientists and administrators from the Khan Research Laboratories, a nuclear weapons facility named after its founder, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, are being held for questioning over nuclear proliferation allegations that surfaced after admissions made by Iran to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog.
An acquaintance of Khan said he had been forbidden to leave Islamabad and questioned on several occasions.
Pakistan's government denies it authorized weapons technology transfers to other countries -- including Iran, Libya or North Korea -- but says individuals may have done so for their own profit.
The News, Pakistan's leading English-language daily, reported Sunday that foreign bank accounts with funds from sales of nuclear technology to Iran have been traced back to at least two senior Pakistani scientists.
The report, citing unnamed government sources, said one nuclear scientist had tens of millions of US dollars in financial and real estate holdings in Pakistan and abroad, including in Dubai. The report did not name the scientists.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan declined to comment on the report, saying that investigators were trying to determine "if some individuals had pursued personal financial gains."
At the rally, Islamist leader Ahmed dismissed the report.
"Even if Dr. Khan has millions of dollars in his accounts we don't care. He's a national hero, we love him," Ahmed told the crowd.
Wary of Abdul Qadeer Khan's support as a national hero, authorities may choose to avoid making him the target of a probe, said the analyst Masood.
"They will probably play it cool on Khan," he said..
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