UNSC should impose freeze of A Q Khan's assets: US scholar

An American scholar has suggested that the UN Security Council should impose a freeze of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientists A Q Khan's assets worldwide, potentially depriving him of his ill-gotten wealth.

An American scholar has suggested that the UN Security Council should impose a freeze of disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientists A Q Khan's assets worldwide, potentially depriving him of his ill-gotten wealth.

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"There are ways to punish Khan from outside Pakistan for his reckless activities, which supported nuclear weapon ambitions in Iran, Libya and North Korea by providing equipment for enriching uranium to weapons grade and, in at least one case, details on how to fabricate a nuclear weapon," write Leonard S Spector in the latest issue of the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine.

"The most potent response would be for the UN Security Council to impose a freeze of Khan's assets worldwide, potentially depriving him of his ill-gotten wealth," said Spector, who heads the Washington office of the Monterey Institute of International Studies' James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Three Security Council resolutions that seek to constrain Iran's nuclear programme have demanded that Iran halt its uranium enrichment programme and have required all UN member states, including Pakistan, to freeze the assets of persons designated by the Security Council "as being engaged in, directly associated with or providing support for Iran's proliferation sensitive nuclear activities."