Reuters 31 Maggio 2008

SLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's disgraced scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said on Friday that he took the blame four years ago for selling nuclear secrets in exchange for assurances that were never honoured by President Pervez Musharraf's government.

"There was sort of an understanding, an agreement, but there was no implementation of it. So I was left to face it," Khan told Reuters from his home in Islamabad, where he has been held under house arrest since early 2004.

Musharraf granted Khan a pardon, but the scientist said he had also expected to be rehabilitated and allowed to travel freely throughout Pakistan.

Still admired by many Pakistanis as the father of the country's atomic bomb, Khan confessed on television in early 2004 to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

Talking earlier to the Guardian newspaper, Khan said the confession "was handed into my hand".

Musharraf once described Khan's admission of guilt, following a tip-off from the CIA, as the most embarrassing moment of his presidency.

Khan denied any wrongdoing and said he could be regarded as a scapegoat, but he refused to say who for. He added that he was not under any obligation to cooperate with investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Western diplomats, local commentators and some politicians have long doubted whether he could have acted alone.

Khan told Reuters he would give his account of the scandal once he was freed.

"First I come out," said the 72-year-old, adding that he expected the new coalition to take up the matter of his release once it had dealt with numerous pressing issues left behind by the previous pro-Musharraf government.

"At this time, the new government is in crisis. They were given an almost dead patient and they are facing lot of problems to make it healthy, so I don't want to make any problems for them," Khan said.

The coalition government, formed after the defeat of Musharraf's allies in an election last February, has relaxed some restrictions on Khan, though he remained under detention at home in a smart area of the capital, overlooking the Margalla Hills.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who Musharraf overthrew in the 1999 coup and whose party is now a major coalition partner, has said Khan should be freed.

(Additional reporting by Augustine Anthony)

Fonte >  Reuters