Restrictions on Pakistan's detained nuclear scientist A Q Khan, who has smuggled nuclear technology to Iran and Libya, have been partially lifted and he can now meet some of his close friends, the media here reported on Tuesday.
Khan’s former lawyer, S M Zafar, took up this issue with President Pervez Musharraf who subsequently issued directives in this regard, according to The News.Zafar, also a Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) senator, said the requests of intending visitors are routed through the Strategic Planning Division, which decides who should be granted permission.
Zafar made the disclosure a day after PML-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain said that the next government would set Khan free. Long celebrated as the “Father of the Pakistani Bomb”, Khan provided the country with the means for producing nuclear weapons. Khan has been under detention for the last 1,443 days. A relative of his, however said he had not been granted permission to see the scientist. There is a list of people who can meet Khan and the list keeps changing, the it said.
Khan’s daughters, sister (Razia) and brother, Abdul Qayyum, are allowed to meet him. Other people who may visit are his physician Lt Gen (retd) Riaz Chohan and former ambassadors Amir Usman and Anwar Kamal.
