Agencies

Islamabad, March 25:

Pakistan may send parts of nuclear centrifuges to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for inspection, says Xinhua. “To end the issue once and for all we want to send nuclear centrifuges to Vienna for inspection and the matter is under consideration,” Dawn reported today quoting president Pervez Musharraf. The controversy on Pakistan’s alleged transfer of nuclear centrifuges would endafter the inspection in Vienna, Musharraf said. Officials of the IAEA probing nuclear proliferation activity in Iran had raised doubts about how and from where Iran had got the nuclear centrifuges. Musharraf tried to dispel the impression

that any nuclear proliferation had taken place from Pakistan and said the focus of probes was on finding those involved in proliferation to Iran. He reiterated that the country’s nuclear installations were secure, adding that there was no external pressure on Pakistan in this regard. Pakistan admitted early in March that its nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan had sold Iran centrifuges that are used to enrich uranium.

The IAEA said it wanted to compare centrifuge parts from Pakistan with those found in Iran. If they matched, it would indicate that Iran acquired the uranium contamination from outside, not from its own enrichment activities. Foreign ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said Musharraf’s latest comments came after Pakistan received an IAEA request to send obsolete centrifuge parts to Vienna. Islamabad had earlier refused to let the agency carry out the analysis on Pakistani soil because it did not allow foreigners to visit its “sensitive facilities.”

“We are considering the request because despatch of components of a discarded centrifuge of a vintage that no longer has any relevance or utility for our programme will have no negative implications.” “AQ Khan is not doing anything now. He is living in his house and he is not in contact with anyone. It is my guarantee and I tell it to everybody and the same I told to Condoleezza Rice,” Musharraf said in the television interview.