Islamabad, April 7 (Xinhua): Pakistan Monday hinted it may lift the restrictions on nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, under house arrest since January 2004.

"I do not want to see his (Khan's) movements restricted. He is a Pakistani and a respected Pakistani," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told private Dawn TV channel.

Khan, founder of Pakistan's nuclear programme, was put under house arrest in 2004 after he confessed on state-run television to illegally selling nuclear technology outside Pakistan.

"He is a national hero and will not be handed over to IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) in any situation," the foreign minister said.

Khan told Pakistan's Urdu newspaper "Nawa-i-Waqt" in a recent interview that he was under "illegal detention" and hoped that the country's new government would soon lift restrictions on his movement.