Saturday, January 10, 2004
Pakistan to book nuke experts for leaking secrets
Press Trust of India Islamabad, January 9
Pakistan plans to book some of its nuclear scientists under Official Secrets Act for allegedly passing sensitive nuclear secrets to a third country.
Saiful Islam, son of Libyan president's Muammar Qadhafi had acknowledged some contacts between Libyan and Pakistani traders to acquire nuclear know-how. Pakistan Government has denied reports that its nuclear scientists were involved in such efforts.
Islamabad has said it is contemplating registering cases under the Official Secrets Act against some of country's nuclear scientists, who were alleged to have passed on sensitive nuclear secrets to a third country, local daily The News said in a report.
Legal experts were currently examining the evidence to arraign these scientists on the charge of passing on secrets to other countries, it quoted officials as saying.
The report followed official admission by security agencies questioning several Pakistani scientists, including the father of Pakistan nuclear bomb Abdul Qadir Khan. While some family members of the nuclear scientists approached courts for their release, the government continued to maintain that the were only being "de-briefed" and not detained.
The News in its report said government agencies have intensely "debriefed" certain scientists of country's premier nuclear installation, the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL).
The government has said any scientist found involved in selling or disclosing nuclear secrets would be made accountable.
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2004.