‘Scientists may have transferred N-secrets to Iran’



DAVOS: President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that Pakistan was investigating a “definite possibility” that Al Qaeda ordered or carried out two attempts to assassinate him last month.
Musharraf, a key US ally in the “war on terrorism” survived two attempts on his life in the space of two weeks last month. The second, on December 25, killed 15 people and wounded 45.
“We have unearthed a lot. We have in fact netted all the people directly involved in the action but we are trying to see who was behind them, the real links, as they say,” Musharraf said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“We think that yes, there is a definite possibility of some Al Qaeda in the rear,” he added.
“We are now trying to see the linkage with our (Pakistani) extremist organisations, we need to establish that still.”
The President told politicians and business leaders that fighting sectarian and religious extremism in Pakistan was, alongside economic development, the toughest challenge he faced. Musharraf defended the effectiveness of military operations against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants in the Pakistan-Afghan border area and said they would not re-emerge as a strategic threat, despite the failure to capture Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks.
Musharraf said Pakistan was thoroughly investigating the suspected transfer of nuclear technology or know-how to Iran by individual scientists, an issue which the UN’s nuclear watchdog is also probing.
“Pakistan is an extremely responsible state. All the nuclear and missile assets, the strategic assets, are under total custodial control,” he said.
He said nuclear transfers were an international problem, involving “an entire underworld”. “As far as Pakistan is concerned, we are investigating... any proliferation that may have been done by individuals for their personal financial gain. We will deal with them as anti-state elements,” Musharraf said.
Pakistan has questioned Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of its atomic bomb, and several of his colleagues in recent weeks after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) started investigating possible links between the Pakistani and Iranian nuclear programmes.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in Davos that non-proliferation controls must be examined and strengthened.
“What we are seeing is a very sophisticated network of black-market proliferators, people who are selling equipment, material underground... We’re still very much in the process of investigating this network,” he said.
n Musharraf told CNN that the investigation, launched in November, would be finished in “a few weeks”.
Asked the likely outcome, he replied: “Well, I would not like to predict, but it appears that some individuals, as I said, were involved for personal financial gain.” Musharraf went further than past statements from his government that individual scientists “may” have transferred nuclear technology to neighbouring Iran.
He said similar allegations had been made against European individuals and countries, “So it is not Pakistan alone”.
And he stressed: “There is no such evidence that any government personality or military personality was involved in this at all.” Asked about reports that Pakistani scientists had also transferred technology to Libya and North Korea, he replied: “I am not denying anything because we are investigating; we have sent teams to Libya, we have sent teams to Iran and we are in contact with the IAEA (the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency). We are collecting all the data...” He vowed “stern action” against violators: “There is nothing that we want to hide, we want to be very up and clear about it that we will move against anybody who proliferated,” he said.
Pakistan would move against any violator “because they are enemies of the state”, he said.
The United States suspects Iran of seeking to build a nuclear bomb under cover of an atomic energy programme Tehran insists is purely peaceful.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei was asked in Davos on Thursday about reports that nuclear know-how and technology may have reached Iran or Libya from Pakistan and replied: “I think what we know is that there have been individuals involved. I do not want to jump to conclusions and say a government is involved.”
Two Dutch ministers said on Monday there were “indications” North Korea and Libya may have acquired potentially arms-related nuclear technology developed by British-Dutch-German consortium Urenco that Pakistan and Iran are known to possess.
Western diplomats have said Pakistani individuals may have helped both Tripoli and Pyongyang obtain the technology, in addition to Tehran.
Abdul Qadeer Khan worked for Urenco in the 1970s. After his return to Pakistan in the 1980s was sentenced in absentia by an Amsterdam court to four years’ jail for attempted espionage, a decision later overturned on appeal. – Agencies
Last update on: 24-1-2004