Washington, January 13:

The United States yesterday unveiled sanctions against detained Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, 12 associates and three firms linked to his nuclear proliferation network.

The sanctions forbid the 16 from having business dealings with the US government or private US firms in what the State Department says is a renewed bid to make sure the network has been shut down entirely.

A State Department official told AFP that Washington has had concerns that elements of the network could still be active since Khan, the father of Pakistan’s atomic bomb, acknowledged his role nearly five years ago.

Khan has been effectively under house arrest in Islamabad since February 2004, when he confessed on television to sending nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, although he retracted his remarks later.

In Islamabad, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said yesterday: “AQ Khan is a closed chapter. Pakistan is mindful of its responsibilities as a nuclear weapon state as well as its international obligations. The sanctions are not against the state or government. The US has in fact applauded Pakistan’s contributions to promote global non-proliferation.”

Most of those sanctioned have for years been mentioned in the media over their links to Khan: Turkish businessman Selim Alguadis and his firm EKA Elektronik Kontrol Aletleri Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, Pakistani scientists Muhammad Farooq and Muhammad Nasim ud Din, Sri Lankan scientist Buhary Seyyed Abu Tahor, German engineers Gerhard Wisser and Gotthard Lerch, Swiss engineer Daniel Geiges and British businessmen and brothers Paul and Peter Griffin. Set up by Wissar, the South African firm Tradefin Engineering is also on the list.

Official say the measures ban credit, guarantees, or insurance in support of US exports to the sanctioned individuals; forbid US imports from the sanctioned entity; and freeze the assets of a sanctioned entity within US jurisdiction.