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Pakistan Investigates Possible Nuclear Technology Proliferation
Pakistan is investigating the possible transfer of its nuclear technology to Iran, with Pakistani officials questioning three scientists in recent weeks, the London Guardian reported last week (see GSN, Dec. 12). The moves have come as Pakistan faces intense pressure from the International Atomic Energy Agency over allegations that it backed Iran’s nuclear weapons development. “Confronted by the agency with pretty overwhelming evidence, the Pakistanis thought they had better do something,” said a diplomat in Vienna (Ian Traynor, London Guardian, Dec. 24). Pakistan said it had never and would never proliferate nuclear technology. “Pakistan takes its responsibility as a nuclear weapons state seriously,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said last week. “We are a responsible state and we understand our obligations,” he added. Pakistani officials were given information that pointed to individuals who might have exported nuclear technology, according to Khan. “We had been approached by the IAEA … we had been given some information by the government of Iran,” he said. Khan said also that Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons development, was being questioned. “He is not under detention and the nature of the questioning is not interrogative,” Khan said. “He is too eminent a scientist to undergo a normal debriefing session,” he added (CNN.com, Dec. 23). The United States said that Pakistan had promised it is not proliferating nuclear weapons technology. “That is the past,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf “has assured us there are not any transfers of WMD-related technologies or know-how going on in the present time,” he added (CNN.com, Dec. 22).
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