Admitting that its disgraced nuclear scientist AQ Khan had aided Syria's nuclear programme, Pakistan on Monday said the matter was investigated and findings shared with the IAEA and "relevant" countries.
Reacting to allegations contained in the US Congress annual report, which said that Khan, under house detention in Islamabad, had aided Syria's nuclear programme, besides that of Iran, Libya and North Korea, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said Islamabad has already probed the matter.
"We have already talked about it at length... Syria, Libya, Iran whatever countries were mentioned, we have conducted thorough investigations and we have shared the results of investigations. At the moment we have nothing new," she told reporters.
"We have repeatedly said we have conducted thorough investigations and we have shared information about the results of the investigations with the IAEA and other relevant countries. If anything new comes up we have made a commitment that we would investigate and share the results," she said.
This is perhaps the first time that Pakistan has admitted conducting investigations into allegations that Khan aided Syrian nuclear programme also.
{{/usCountry}}This is perhaps the first time that Pakistan has admitted conducting investigations into allegations that Khan aided Syrian nuclear programme also.
{{/usCountry}}Khan was forgiven and kept in house detention by President Pervez Musharraf after he confessed in 2003 of proliferating nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
There was no mention about his aiding the Syrian programme then. That was for the first time highlighted by the US Congress report released last week.