Asserting that Pakistan had 'no intention of hiding facts' regarding A Q Khan's nuclear proliferation network, President Pervez Musharraf has ruled out any change in his stand of not allowing foreigners to interrogate the disgraced scientist.
"Pakistan has said all along that Dr. Khan had proliferated (nuclear technology) to North Korea, Iran and Libya," Musharraf said at a press conference on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly session on Thursday.
Musharraf said he was not allowing Khan's interrogation by foreigners as it was a matter of 'sensitivity' and implied a lack of trust in Islamabad's capacity to interrogate and its intention to share the information with others. "We have no intention of hiding facts," Musharraf said.
"There is an underworld of high technology that involves many organisations and individuals known to everyone. It involves a whole underworld network, including countries of the West," he said.
Asked about the next phase in Pakistani-Israeli relations, following the recent meeting of the foreign ministers, the President said his country had taken a major step in establishing relations but asserted the key issue would be to give Palestinians their homeland. He noted that he had just accepted an invitation to address the US Jewish Congress, which wad once unheard of.
"We saw the bold step taken by (Israeli) Prime Minister Sharon in Gaza and the evacuation of some towns in the West Bank and we thought this was the time where we need to show our own progress in relations," he said. "Therefore the two foreign ministers met. So I would say this is a step-by-step approach. We cannot start sprinting before we learn how to walk."
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