The government has said nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan is still a national hero and it will never allow the United Nations watchdogs question him for centrifuges' smuggling. Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem told a news conference here on Thursday no body would ever be permitted to quiz him.
"Dr Khan was our national hero, he is and (he) will be. Some mistakes were committed (by him), which are now being corrected," he said. Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said in the United States early this week she would grant Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access to Dr Khan if regained power.
President Pervez Musharraf pardoned Khan some three years ago after he confessed of supplying nuclear centrifuges to Libya, Iran and N Korea through black market, but he was saved from international investigation despite pressures mainly from the United States.