ISLAMABAD, 25 July 2004 — Pakistan has released three nuclear scientists after interrogating them for at least nine months in connection with the alleged transfer of sensitive nuclear information to Iran, Libya and North Korea, family members and officials said yesterday.
“He came home last night... and, thank God, he is fine and in good health,” the wife of Dr. Nazir Ahmed, a nuclear scientist said.
Ahmed, an employee of Pakistan’s premier nuclear facility — Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) — was picked up along with a dozen others late last year for the probe into the accusation of suspected involvement of Pakistani scientists and officials in nuclear proliferation to what the United States considers “rogue states”.
Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shuakat Sultan said three KRL officials — Dr. Ahmed, Brig. Sajawal Khan and Maj. Ehsanul Haq — would be called back if they were required at any stage of the investigation.
“We released them as they are not required at this stage of investigation,” Sultan said when asked whether their interrogation had been completed.
He said Dr. Farooq Ahmed, a close aide to the country’s most revered scientist, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, was still in detention.
Khan, who publicly confessed his involvement in nuclear proliferation, was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf last February because of his services to the country’s nuclear program. Khan is known as the “father of the Islamic bomb.”
The three were detained late last year under a probe into a proliferation network run by Dr. Khan.
Several scientists and officials of the country’s main uranium enrichment facility, Khan Research Laboratory, were released earlier this year after remaining under interrogation for months.
Only one scientist, Dr. Mohammad Farooq, is still in custody while Dr. Khan has been under virtual house arrest since February when he was given a conditional pardon after he admitted leaking nuclear secrets to other countries and sought clemency.
Family members of Maj. Haq, who was principal staff officer to Dr. Khan, said authorities had barred him and the two other officials from speaking to the media or moving around. “It is basically a continuation of their detention. The only difference is that they are allowed to stay at home,” Eisamul Haq, brother of Ehsan, said.
Pakistan became a nuclear power in May 1998 when it conducted underground nuclear tests in response to similar tests by its neighbor and archrival, India
