Author: PTI
Publication: The Hindu
Date: December 23, 2002
URL: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/12/23/stories/2002122302451400.htm
Pakistan had deflected and frustrated
a U.N. probe into an offer made by Islamabad to Iraq of nuclear weapons
know-how, allegedly made in the 1990s on behalf of Abdul Qadeer Khan, father
of Pakistan's atomic bomb, former U.N. weapons inspectors were today quoted
as saying.
The offer is contained in Iraqi
secret service documents.
With help from the Bush Administration
which does not want public attention focused on it, Pakistan has also been
able to play down the nuclear weapons know-how it had actually provided
to N. Korea in return for the Ghauri missile and know-how to build medium
range missiles in Pakistan itself, The Washington Times reported.
A middleman claiming to present
Khan ``offered Iraq help in building an atomic bomb on the eve of the Persian
Gulf War, according to UN documents, diplomats and former weapons inspectors,''
the daily said.
Former inspectors, who spoke to
the paper on condition of anonymity, said Pakistani officials did not cooperate
when the U.N. nuclear agency tried in the mid-1990s to investigate if the
scientist was behind the proposal.
The former inspectors stopped short
of saying that Pakistan Government was involved in the offer to help Iran
build a nuclear weapon.
The revelation follows recent news
reports that Pakistan assisted North Korea's nuclear programme in return
for missiles and missile technology.
Pakistan has denied any link to
Pyongyang or Baghdad. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Chritina Rocca,
last week said the Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, has given his
assurance that nothing is being given to North Korea. This formulation,
analysts noted, did not cover what was done in the past.
The U.N. officials told the daily
that Iraq did not accept the offer from Pakistan and did not mention it
in its latest arms declaration. The offer also is not mentioned in a previous
declaration that Iraq made in 1996.
