Lawyer wants Prez to testify

Islamabad, July 15: A lawyer for Pakistan’s disgraced nuclear scientist said on Monday that he wants President Pervez Musharraf to appear before a court hearing a petition to end his client’s four-year detention for nuclear proliferation.

The architect of Pakistan’s nuclear program, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, has been under house arrest since 2004 after he confessed to leaking nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

His lawyer, Mr Javed Iqbal Jaffri, has petitioned the high court in Islamabad to get restrictions on Dr Khan’s movement removed. Mr Jaffri said on Monday he asked the high court to compel the appearance of President Musharraf and interior ministry official Rehman Malik at a hearing so, "further facts can come out clearly, openly" about Dr Khan’s case.

Mr Jaffri did not elaborate. Mr Jaffri told reporters after meeting with Dr Khan at his tightly guarded villa that the high court was expected to make a decision on Tuesday about the request to have President Musharraf testify. —PTI