Foreign Office (FO) Spokesman Masood Khan has indicated that some of the persons associated with nuclear technology owned by countries named by Iran to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will also be questioned about their role in leaking the secrets to Tehran, saying the suggestion in this regard had already started appearing in the international press.
Addressing his regular weekly news conference that was held here on Tuesday instead of its usual schedule of opening day of the week, the spokesman likened the nuclear technology to a "hydra-headed monster" with tentacles sprouting in a number of places.
Masood Khan pointed out the black markets thrived in the Far East, Europe and Americas, and it was the collective responsibility of the international community to track and eliminate those wherever discovered.
There were no plans to roll back the nuclear programme as the current investigations were focussed on determining if some persons had used their position for financial gains, said Masood Khan, adding the persons found guilty will face the law, and assured that those innocent had nothing to fear.
He denied that Pakistan was debriefing some of the scientists suspected of leaking their knowledge under the pressure or association of some foreign countries, saying: "As a nuclear weapon state, it was our duty to hold investigations."
Masood Khan refuted the suggestion that the number of scientists under debriefing in this regard was large, saying that just a handful of them, named by Iran to the IAEA, were being interrogated.
He said there were nearly 50,000 persons associated with Pakistani nuclear programme and 6,000 of those were scientists.
The spokesman said although Pakistan has not signed the treaty on non-proliferation, as President Musharraf had said earlier that no government in Pakistan, past, present or future had or will proliferate. This statement, he urged exonerated the past administration, and also dispelled rumours that the government was engaged in witch hunting.
Masood Khan said the Govt had some "credible leads and evidence to suggest that some activity might have happened and this precisely is what we are trying to determine now".
The spokesman said the investigations were in the "past tense, rather past perfect" as since 1999 Pakistan had a strong command and control system, laws banning the export of nuclear-related machinery and equipment, and there was a special intelligence outfit that was monitoring and watching the nuclear installations and the people working there.
Answering a lengthy question about the genesis of the current inquiries, the spokesman said during their investigations in Iran, the IAEA inspectors had found a higher percentage of radiation than the declared one and under questioning the Iranians disclosed that they had been able to access to technology in 1987 that could have been either in the Arabian Gulf or Europe. Pakistani investigations followed a report from the IAEA, and not the foreign media reports, he added.
He told another questioner that three army officers had also been "debriefed in this connection", confirming that Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan had been questioned and may be asked more questions about people under interrogation.
Masood Khan also rejected that the scientists under debriefing were being tried by media. On the contrary, it was the media that was publishing stories about them, and they could exercise restraint also, he added.
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