A.Q. tries to sneak out, arrested

BY SHAFQAT ALI

Islamabad

June 28: Pakistan’s nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan on Friday evening sneaked out of his house but was taken into custody by the security people outside his Islamabad residence, officials said.

"Dr Khan came out of his residence in protest on Friday evening when his security officials refused to take him to the doctor," a security official said. "He (Dr Khan) was suffering from severe toothache and he demanded his security officials on Friday morning to take him to the doctor but they refused saying that they have no official permission," he added. "He suffered from pain till (Friday) evening but was not permitted to see the doctor. Unable to bear the pain, he came out of his residence and tried to run away to some clinic," the official said.

He was taken into custody by the security men and later at night driven to a doctor," the official said.

Meanwhile, the government has rejected the demand of US legislators for direct access to the detained nuclear scientist, saying that the Pakistan government alone can probe into allegations if he proliferated the nuclear secrets.

"We have made it clear at every level that no outside authority can interview Dr Khan," a senior foreign office official said.

Four key US legislators asked the Bush administration to seek direct access to Dr Khan to get to the bottom of nuclear black market.

"It is in the interest of the US, Pakistan, and indeed the rest of the world, that the full actions of Dr A.Q. Khan become known so that we can best deal with the ramifications," the legislators said in a letter to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.

A Pakistan interior ministry official said Dr Qadeer Khan is under protective custody and it is wrong to say that Dr Khan is under house arrest. "There can be several reasons for his custody, we don’t want to put his life in danger," the official said.

However, government sources said that Pakistan has provided necessary information to the IAEA in the past and does not think that more investigation into the issue is required.