|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Pakistan Denies Arresting Nuclear Scientists
Pakistani officials today denied reports that two nuclear scientists had been arrested, saying instead that the scientists were only being “debriefed” (see GSN, Dec. 11). According to Pakistani media reports, Farooq Muhammad and Yasin Chohan, senior directors at the Kahuta Research Laboratories, were taken into custody earlier this month. Pakistani officials said, however, that the move was not an arrest and that the two scientists were “undergoing debriefing sessions” by officials from “the sensitive organizations.” The term “sensitive organizations” is often used to refer to Pakistani intelligence services, according to Agence France-Presse. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan also denied that the two men were being interrogated or that foreign agents had been involved in the action, as had been reported. “There is no ‘interrogation’ going on. The word has implications of ‘wrongdoing.’ This is prejudgment,” Khan said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Dec. 12). Former Pakistani army chief Gen. Aslam Beg criticized the reported detention of the two scientists Wednesday, saying the action was “an alarming signal for Pakistan’s security, as those associated with Pakistan’s nuclear deterrence capability are now being targeted under foreign pressure.” Beg has been an opponent of Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s ties to the United States, and has instead called for military ties with Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported (Zahid Hussain, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 12).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
