Thursday, Mar 31, 2005
Thursday, Mar 31, 2005 |
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By Sridhar Krishnaswami
WASHINGTON, MARCH 30. Those within the Republican administration who believed that supplying newer versions of the F-16 jets to Pakistan will get American intelligence agencies a face-to-face interview with the nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, will be disappointed. In an interview to Washington Times, the Pakistani Ambassador in Washington, Jehangir Karamat, said his country would not grant direct access to Dr. Khan but "alternatives" were on the cards. "The U.S. and Pakistan have been in continuous contact on this particular issue. And, in response to the U.S. demand for access to Dr. A.Q. Khan, we have offered alternatives," Mr. Karamat told Washington Times. Pakistan has agreed to examine Iranian nuclear components and check for "signatures" to determine if these originated from the Khan network. The Pakistani Ambassador said while he did not have access to the debriefing reports from Dr. Khan "we have reached a conclusion that centrifuges, or centrifuge design or parts" were obtained by Teheran from the network of Mr. Khan. Mr. Karamat said the denial of direct access followed a plea agreement reached with Dr. Khan, considered to be the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme. "We have explained our point of view and we have suggested alternatives for meeting every single U.S. requirement for information. I think the U.S. has been satisfied generally with every requirement being met by Pakistan on the international network." In an editorial titled "Warplanes for South Asia," Wall Street Journal said: "No doubt the U.S. also hopes the gesture (of giving F-16s) will lead Islamabad to allow U.S. agents to question the Pakistani nuclear scientist, A.Q. Khan, who is under house arrest since revealing last year that he ran a nuclear proliferation ring. Mr. Musharraf last week hinted that Islamabad may hand over nuclear centrifuge parts to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Both would be helpful in investigating the nuclear weapons programmes of Iran and North Korea."
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