Pakistan denies Musharraf, army sent centrifuges to North Korea

Islamabad: Pakistan's top nuclear authority Saturday rejected claims by disgraced atomic scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan that the army and President Pervez Musharraf sent centrifuges to North Korea in 2000.

Lieutenant General Khalid Kidwai, head of the Strategic Planning Division (SPD), told a select group of reporters there was "enough evidence" about the proliferation network that Khan had run from 1987.

Kidwai reiterated that there had been no involvement by the army, Musharraf, SPD or the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency in the transfer of centrifuges to North Korea.

The briefing followed media interviews with Khan in which he made the claim which Kidwai said was damaging the national interest.

"Technically, yes it happened in his (Musharraf) tenure, but giving an impression that he or the army was aware or supervised it is wrong," Kidwai said.

"I would like to categorically say it is absolutely wrong, false."

He said they had evidence about Khan's network which was dismantled more than four years ago and "we can produce it in camera at any level--- court, parliamentary committee, tribunal or any group of people."

Kidwai said a dozen centrifuges -- used for enriching uranium -- were sent to North Korea by Khan's network in 2000 and one was sent several years earlier.

He said the government got suspicious about Khan's activities around the same time which finally led to his termination as head of the country's main nuclear research laboratory in 2001.

Khan was pardoned by Musharraf in 2004 after making a televised statement admitting to passing nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya but has not been allowed out in public.

However, after Musharraf's allies lost general elections in February, Khan retracted his confession and said that it was forced.

The new government has recently relaxed restrictions on Khan, including allowing him to meet friends at a scientific institute and take phone calls, although he remains effectively confined to his house.