ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said it would not allow any foreign country or agency directly or indirectly to question disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

"Pakistan has full confidence in the efficacy of its investigative system and procedures," foreign office spokesman Masood Khan told AFP on Friday (Dec 10).

His comments followed a report in London's Financial Times which said Pakistan was expected to allow UN nuclear investigators to put questions in writing to Khan.

Quoting western diplomats, the newspaper said such indirect access would fall short of face-to-face interviews which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been seeking.

But it could still prove an important step in the IAEA's efforts to untangle the network of manufacturers and middleman that supplied sensitive machinery and know-how to Libya, Iran, North Korea and perhaps others, the paper said.

The spokesman said Islamabad "has received no such request."

"For questions and investigations, no outside agency or person will be given access to Dr A.Q. Khan or any other Pakistani scientist. There will be no direct on indirect investigations or testimonies," the spokesman said.

"Speculation in this regard is baseless."

Khan, the architect of Pakistan's nuclear programme, in February took full responsibility for transfers of nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

President Pervez Musharraf gave him a conditional pardon and has said that no government or military body was involved in the proliferation scandal.

The foreign office spokesman said Pakistan would continue to extend its cooperation with the IAEA and the international community "to neutralise the proliferation market."

In September the IAEA said it had asked to interview Khan directly but Pakistan had refused.

Courtesy Agence France Presse