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Pakistani Police Squelch Rally for Disgraced Nuke Scientist

Aired February 06, 2004 - 05:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Pakistani police are arresting religious hard-liners in Karachi. They're trying to head off a rally of supporters of Pakistan's top nuclear scientist. He was pardoned after admitting he sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
CNN's Ash-har Quraishi reports live from Islamabad.

Hello.

ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well, it's been a rollercoaster of a week here in Pakistan following the stunning confession by Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, that he did, in fact, proliferate nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. And even more shocking to many people is that - the fact that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf pardoned him in a news conference. He announced that pardon would be given to Dr. Khan following these admissions.

Now, there have been some protests in Karachi - there has been a general strike called for by supporters of Dr. Khan who are unhappy with the fact that he was even accused of these allegations. They say that his confessions were under duress. They don't believe that anybody else - that he alone acted. They say that officials from within the government and the military must have been involved. But that has been denied by Dr. Khan himself in his confession as well as by the government and president Musharraf.

But still, a lot of other people saying that the broader scope of this is to look forward and try and see what they can gather from this. As we've seen by the reaction out of the United States as well as by the IAEA, they are happy, at this point, with the assurances that Pakistan has been giving, that this type of thing won't happen in the future, and that Pakistan's nuclear secrets are now safe, and that they will cooperate in trying to unravel this black market of nuclear proliferation - Carol.

COSTELLO: But Ash-har, that does bring up further questioning just on that point. How do you stop this sort of thing? If there's a huge black market out there, and if you have a guy admitting to selling nuclear secrets and there's no punishment, how do you stop it?

QURAISHI: Well, the point that President Musharraf made yesterday in his news conference was that we're talking about a covert period in which Pakistan was pursuing a nuclear program, and an overt period. Now, since President Musharraf in a 1999 coup - four months later he set up what's known as the National Command Authority, which oversees Pakistan's nuclear assets.

They believe most of the proliferation occurred before this strategic command was put into place, and now that there are much stricter put in, and that the nuclear scientists no longer enjoy the kind of autonomy that Dr. Khan enjoyed during the 80's and 90's, when these - these acts of proliferation actually occurred, Carol. So they think they're safe now.

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this -- Americans aren't all that thrilled that nuclear secrets are going to places like Iran and North Korea. Is Dr. Khan spilling any information as to just how much information he sold to those countries?

QURAISHI: Well, just as shocking as it is that he was pardoned, I spoke to a senior official just moments ago who said that the status of Dr. Khan is that he's a free man at this point.

However, he also said that Pakistan will cooperate with the IAEA, although they won't hand over documents or any evidence directly to the IAEA or any other - they won't submit to U.N. inspections of its own nuclear facility here in Pakistan. They say the IAEA is welcome to come and investigate and talk about the evidence that Pakistan has gathered on its own. And that, we understand, would include possibly even some of the information that Dr. Khan could provide into the insights of how far this nuclear technology has gone and who in the black market and in other countries is involved, Carol.

COSTELLO: Ash-har Quraishi, reporting live from Islamabad this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Scientist>


Aired February 6, 2004 - 05:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Pakistani police are arresting religious hard-liners in Karachi. They're trying to head off a rally of supporters of Pakistan's top nuclear scientist. He was pardoned after admitting he sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
CNN's Ash-har Quraishi reports live from Islamabad.

Hello.

ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol.

Well, it's been a rollercoaster of a week here in Pakistan following the stunning confession by Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, that he did, in fact, proliferate nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. And even more shocking to many people is that - the fact that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf pardoned him in a news conference. He announced that pardon would be given to Dr. Khan following these admissions.

Now, there have been some protests in Karachi - there has been a general strike called for by supporters of Dr. Khan who are unhappy with the fact that he was even accused of these allegations. They say that his confessions were under duress. They don't believe that anybody else - that he alone acted. They say that officials from within the government and the military must have been involved. But that has been denied by Dr. Khan himself in his confession as well as by the government and president Musharraf.

But still, a lot of other people saying that the broader scope of this is to look forward and try and see what they can gather from this. As we've seen by the reaction out of the United States as well as by the IAEA, they are happy, at this point, with the assurances that Pakistan has been giving, that this type of thing won't happen in the future, and that Pakistan's nuclear secrets are now safe, and that they will cooperate in trying to unravel this black market of nuclear proliferation - Carol.

COSTELLO: But Ash-har, that does bring up further questioning just on that point. How do you stop this sort of thing? If there's a huge black market out there, and if you have a guy admitting to selling nuclear secrets and there's no punishment, how do you stop it?

QURAISHI: Well, the point that President Musharraf made yesterday in his news conference was that we're talking about a covert period in which Pakistan was pursuing a nuclear program, and an overt period. Now, since President Musharraf in a 1999 coup - four months later he set up what's known as the National Command Authority, which oversees Pakistan's nuclear assets.

They believe most of the proliferation occurred before this strategic command was put into place, and now that there are much stricter put in, and that the nuclear scientists no longer enjoy the kind of autonomy that Dr. Khan enjoyed during the 80's and 90's, when these - these acts of proliferation actually occurred, Carol. So they think they're safe now.

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this -- Americans aren't all that thrilled that nuclear secrets are going to places like Iran and North Korea. Is Dr. Khan spilling any information as to just how much information he sold to those countries?

QURAISHI: Well, just as shocking as it is that he was pardoned, I spoke to a senior official just moments ago who said that the status of Dr. Khan is that he's a free man at this point.

However, he also said that Pakistan will cooperate with the IAEA, although they won't hand over documents or any evidence directly to the IAEA or any other - they won't submit to U.N. inspections of its own nuclear facility here in Pakistan. They say the IAEA is welcome to come and investigate and talk about the evidence that Pakistan has gathered on its own. And that, we understand, would include possibly even some of the information that Dr. Khan could provide into the insights of how far this nuclear technology has gone and who in the black market and in other countries is involved, Carol.

COSTELLO: Ash-har Quraishi, reporting live from Islamabad this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Scientist>