A.Q.Khan nuke network still involved in proliferation: Report

The International Institute of Strategic Studies, influential think tank, has claimed that the cladestine nuclear proliferation network run by Pakistan's disgraced top scientist A. Q. Khan, is still very much in business.

London, May 3 : The International Institute of Strategic Studies, influential think tank, has claimed that the cladestine nuclear proliferation network run by Pakistan's disgraced top scientist A. Q. Khan, is still very much in business.

According to The Independent, a new report co-authored by Mark Fitzpatrick, suggests that one of Khan's book's or diaries, containing details of his extensive contacts, has been sold, and this has activated fresh lucrative deals.

Fitzpatrick further claims that only a part of Khan's worldwide proliferation network has been uncovered.

"In this case decapitating the head does not mean the body is dead. Khan's network was horizontal and in many ways self-supporting. He may have been the deal maker, but many of his contacts have been able to organise their own deals," Fitzpatrick is quoted, as saying.

Just how much money was made by Khan's network remains unknown.

"Just one deal with the Libyans is estimated to have got him around 100 million dollars, but we do not know how much of that he had to share with his network," Fitzpatrick adds.

Khan was pardoned by Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf after admitting his role in proliferation and publicly declaring that the Pakistani state had played no part in the scheme. Has been kept under house arrest since early 2005 following reports that he engineered nuclear proliferation deals with Libya, Iran and North Korea.

Fitzpatrick says that, " A number of Pakistani officials encouraged Khan in what he was doing. They have not been prosecuted or punished in any way for this implicit complicity and we do not know what they are doing now."

According to the report, 'Nuclear Black Markets: Pakistan, A Q Khan and the rise of proliferation networks', Iran is one of the main buyers of illicit supplies.

ANI