Pakistan insists Khan network dismantled
AP
Published: February 07, 2009, 13:27
Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday defended the easing of restrictions on Abdul Qadeer Khan, saying the man who once confessed to passing nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya no longer posed a risk because his smuggling network had been dismantled.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Qureshi said that the government had "extracted the information that was required" from Khan.
"We have successfully broken the network that he had set up and today he has no say and has no access to any of the sensitive areas of Pakistan," Qureshi said. "A. Q. Khan is history."
Khan emerged from five years of de facto house arrest on Friday after a court declared him a "free citizen" subject to a secret agreement with the government.
The move alarmed the new US government, which has made countering the spread of nuclear weapons to states including Iran a top foreign policy priority.
The White House said President Barack Obama wants assurances from Pakistan that Khan isn't involved in the activity that led to his detention. State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid said Khan remained a "serious proliferation risk."
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday said that international concern about Khan's new freedoms "would be taken care of." He didn't elaborate.
How much latitude has been granted to Khan, who has begun distancing himself from his confession and denying he did anything illegal, remains unclear.
Khan's wife said on Saturday that her husband, a 72-year-old who has suffered from a string of illnesses including cancer, was receiving friends at home.
Hendrina Khan said their visitors were still subject to security checks as one of a dozen plainclothes security officers outside his house said that the government didn't allow Khan to speak to the media.
Source: http://gulfnews.com/world/Pakistan/10282981.html