By IANS
Islamabad : There is no freedom in sight for disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who has been under a virtual house arrest for over three years.
Islamabad, July 2 (IANS) There is no freedom in sight for disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who has been under a virtual house arrest for over three years.
Khan, 71, said Monday that media speculation about his possible release has no basis, although he wished it were true.
"Obviously I would have wished that it was true but it doesn't seem to be the case," Khan was quoted as saying by Dawn.
His Dutch wife Henny also denied media reports Monday that quoted an unnamed official as saying that the scientist is now allowed to meet his friends and relatives at his home and he can also travel elsewhere to see them.
Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam told reporters that there was "no change in status" regarding the restrictions on Dr. A.Q. Khan. "He continues to live a quiet life with his family," Aslam said.
Khan, once revered as father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, has been held a virtual captive on orders of President Pervez Musharraf since January 2004 and there have been phases when none except his wife was allowed into his highly guarded house.
Declaring that "Khan is no longer my hero", Musharraf has said that he acted after the Bush administration and the CIA confronted him with evidence of Khan having illegally sold nuclear designs and devices.
The recipients, according to western think tanks and media, were Iran, North Korea, Libya and Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda.
Khan underwent a heart surgery last year, the only time he was flown to Karachi to be treated at the Agha Khan Medical Hospital.
The US and the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA) have off and on sought access to Khan to question him about the illegal proliferation. But the Musharraf regime that conducted its own investigations has doggedly refused any foreign individual or agency access to him.