Pakistan's government has made its clearest public statement yet that scientists of its secretive nuclear weapons program leaked technology and would face legal action.
The government said Monday that its two-month probe into allegations of nuclear technology proliferation to Iran and Libya was near completion.
"One or two people acted in an irresponsible manner for personal profit. Money is involved in the matter. I am not naming any scientist," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told a news conference in the capital, Islamabad.
Ahmed made the comments amid speculation that leading scientists will face prosecution.
Pakistan began its probe into its nuclear program and possible proliferation to Iran in late November after admissions made by Tehran to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog.
Allegations also have surfaced recently that Pakistani technology spread to Libya and North Korea as well.
Pakistan's government denies it authorized any transfers of weapons technology to other countries, but says individuals may have done so for their own profit.
Ahmed said three scientists and four security officials of the Khan Research Laboratories were still detained and that questioning was scheduled to be completed within days.
Media reports have identified the key suspects as the lab's former director-general Mohammed Farooq, held for nearly two months, and the lab's founder, Abdul Qadeer Khan, long regarded as a national hero.
Khan has not been detained, but an acquaintance has said he is confined to Islamabad and has been questioned many times. Ahmed said Monday that Khan wasn't under any restrictions.
Investigators are tracking the bank accounts of some scientists, and a Pakistani newspaper report Sunday said they had found accounts of two scientists with millions of US dollars in transactions tied to the sale of nuclear technology to Iran.
The report did not name the scientists.
Speaking to reporters in the southern city of Karachi on Monday, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayyat promised legal action against anyone involved in proliferation, saying, "no one will be spared at any level."
"We will take legal action against them ... so that it becomes an example for others and no patriotic Pakistani should even think of selling out Pakistan," Hayyat said.
He refused to release the names of scientists whose bank accounts are being examined.
The prospect of nuclear scientists being prosecuted has sparked isolated protests by Islamic hard-liners in Pakistan, who accuse President Pervez Musharraf of caving in to the US by leveling accusations against scientists who helped produce the Muslim world's first nuclear bomb as a deterrent against nuclear-armed rival India.
On Monday, dozens of supporters of the opposition coalition Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal and relatives of detained scientists rallied outside Parliament in Islamabad, chanting, "Go Musharraf Go!"
Ahmed said the probe would not compromise Pakistan's right to a nuclear deterrent against India.
"For national security, we are committed to defend our national assets at every cost," he said. "In this, there is no flexibility in our policy."
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
RSS