ISLAMABAD, 13 August 2005 — Pakistan police yesterday detained the son-in-law of nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan for allegedly beating up two British diplomats, sources said.

Saad Ali Khan was accused of assaulting the diplomats in a plush residential area of the capital over the weekend as the two, a man and a woman, were walking home.

British High Commissioner Mark Lyall Grant confirmed the pair had sustained “facial and other injuries” in an unprovoked attack by several people that lasted several minutes. He said the injuries were serious at the time, but both were making a full recovery.

Police yesterday produced Saad Ali Khan before a magistrate here who ordered him detained for two weeks on judicial remand, said police investigator Safeer Bhatti. It was not clear when police would file charges against him.

In all, five or six men reportedly assaulted the diplomats early Sunday. They followed the couple by vehicle as the two walked home, prompting a verbal exchange.

“Two members of British diplomatic staff were attacked in the early hours of Sunday morning in a residential area of Islamabad,” spokesman Simon Smart said. Local police were investigating the incident, he added.

Respected in Pakistan as the father of the country’s nuclear bomb, Qadeer Khan admitted in 2004 that he had leaked atomic secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

The 69-year-old is currently under house arrest. Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has refused to allow international investigators to question him.

Married to the younger of the scientist’s two daughters, Qadeer’s son-in-law is the owner of a school in Islamabad, English-language daily The News reported.

The incident took place around 50 meters from the disgraced scientist’s house — which has its own mini-police station — in an area where many diplomats and officials also live, sources said.

They said the two Britons were walking home after a night at a friend’s house when a group of two or three erratically driven cars nearly hit them.

The diplomats gesticulated at the passing cars and one of them stopped. A group of up to six Pakistanis then got out and beat up the pair, the sources added.

Spokesman Smart would not comment on reports that the attack may have been linked to tensions caused by the investigation into the July 7 bombings in London.

In recent weeks, British and Western expatriates in Islamabad have privately reported a rise in threatening or violent incidents directed at them by Pakistanis.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Naeem Khan said the British High Commission had informed them about the attack, and pledged that the culprits would be punished.

“It is most regrettable and unfortunate that such an incident has happened in Islamabad, which is a very quiet and peaceful place,” he said.