World | Pakistan
Wife of disgraced nuclear scientist takes case to court
The wife of disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said yesterday she is challenging his detention in court and suggested officials would be glad if he died without telling his side of Pakistan's nuclear proliferation story.
- AP
- Published: 00:07 July 4, 2008
Islamabad: The wife of disgraced Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said yesterday she is challenging his detention in court and suggested officials would be glad if he died without telling his side of Pakistan's nuclear proliferation story.
Hendrina Khan said that she appointed an attorney earlier this week to petition the Islamabad High Court for an end to the restrictions on her husband's movements and for his freedom to speak to the media.
"We have finally made it known to the government that we are no longer willing to sit back and do nothing," she said, by authorising a lawyer to act on her behalf.
Hero to many
Abdul Qadeer Khan, a hero to many in Pakistan for his key role in developing the country's atomic weapons, has been under virtual house arrest since 2004, when he took sole responsibility for the leakage of sensitive technology to countries including Iran.
Although President Pervez Musharraf pardoned him, he was confined to his villa in the capital. He has rarely ventured out, save for several hospital stays for a host of ailments and a recent visit to the Academy of Sciences in Islamabad to mourn a deceased colleague.
After the defeat of Musharraf's allies in February elections, the 72-year-old broke his long silence, claiming he did nothing "unauthorised" and that authorities bullied him into his confession with promises that he would be freed soon after.
Speculation
His outbursts, punctuated with anti-Western tirades, stirred speculation about whether Khan would reveal new details of how Pakistani nuclear secrets reached Libya, North Korea and Iran, and whether other Pakistani officials and other countries were involved.
Khan has denied a suggestion in a recent report from a US think tank that he passed the design for a compact nuclear warhead to an international smuggling ring.
The new government has repeated Musharraf's defence that the restrictions on Khan are necessary for the retired scientist's own security and, according to the Khans, warned them to tone down their public statements.
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