Asked if local newspaper reports that the government restrictions had been removed were correct, Khan told AFP: "By the grace of Allah, yes."

In February, a Pakistani court declared Khan a free man, five years after the reputed father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb was effectively put under house arrest for operating a proliferation network.

Last Friday, the 72-year-old Khan complained to a high court that his movements were still being restricted by the government's security arrangements on his behalf. The court ordered the government to respond to Khan's claim on September 4.

Local media quoted Khan as saying that the restrictions had been withdrawn ahead of Friday's hearing.

"The reports that you have read in newspapers are correct," Khan told AFP, adding that he could not elaborate because the court had barred him from giving interviews to foreign media. He was, however, free to speak to local press.

A senior Islamabad police official told AFP: "As far as Islamabad police is concerned we are not restricting his movements."

The United States in February had expressed concern that Khan's release could lead to renewed nuclear proliferation. To allay fears, Pakistan said he had no access to atomic facilities.

A US official said Tuesday that Khan "remains a serious proliferation risk".

"We have made clear to the Pakistani government our concerns about AQ Khan," a State Department official told AFP on condition of anonymity when asked to comment on the news the scientist had gained freedom of movement.

Khan's lawyer Syed Ali Zafar said that if he continued to be free of restrictions by Friday's court hearing then he would not proceed with his legal action.

"If the current situation remains on the fourth of September also, then it would mean that our prayer has borne fruit," Zafar said.

A spokesman for the interior ministry was unavailable for comment.

Access to Khan's sprawling residence in one of the most upmarket areas of Islamabad was unhindered on Tuesday.

"We are not stopping anyone from meeting Mr A.Q. Khan," a plain-clothed security official at the main gate told AFP.

The official, who asked not to be named, added there were no restrictions on the scientist's movements.

"He can go anywhere on a prior notice so that security can be provided to him."

Defence analyst A.H. Nayyar said it was Khan's love of publicity that was creating trouble between him and the government.

"The government is in a fix. If it let him loose, he talks too much and causes embarrassment to the government," Nayyar told AFP. "If he is restrained, then courts invoke the fundamental rights.

In February 2004 Khan confessed to sending nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, although he later retracted his remarks.

Then president Pervez Musharraf pardoned the scientist, revered by many Pakistanis as a national hero, but he was kept at his residence, guarded by troops and intelligence agents.

The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had expressed concerns when Islamabad High Court lifted restrictions on Khan in February. The US embassy in Islamabad Tuesday said they were following the situation.

"We have seen the press reports, we are following the situation," US embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire told AFP.

US lawmakers in March introduced legislation aiming to cut off military aid to Pakistan unless US officials could question Khan.

earlier related report
Khan: Nuclear hero to Pakistan, villain to West
Pakistani atomic scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan is hailed as a national hero for transforming his country into the world's first Islamic nuclear power but regarded as a dangerous renegade by the West.

Revered as the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, Khan was lauded for bringing the nation up to par with arch-rival India in the atomic field and making national defence "impregnable".

But he was surrounded by controversy when he was accused of illegally proliferating nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Khan was placed under effective house arrest in 2004 after he admitted running a proliferation network to the three countries.

In February a court declared him a free man but the government restricted his movements. Khan Tuesday said those restrictions had been lifted after he complained to the high court.

Born in Bhopal, India on April 1, 1936, Khan was just a young boy when his family migrated to Pakistan during the bloody 1947 partition of the sub-continent at the end of British colonial rule.

He did an science degree at Karachi University in 1960, then went on to study metallurgical engineering in Berlin before completing advanced studies in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The 72-year-old's crucial contribution to Pakistan's nuclear programme was the procurement of a blueprint for uranium centrifuges, which transform uranium into weapons-grade fuel for nuclear fissile material.

He was charged with stealing it from The Netherlands while working for Anglo-Dutch-German nuclear engineering consortium Urenco, and bringing it back to Pakistan in 1976.

On his return to Pakistan, then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto put Khan in charge of the government's nascent uranium enrichment project.

By 1978, his team had enriched uranium and by 1984 they were ready to detonate a nuclear device, Khan later said in a newspaper interview.

Khan's aura began to dim in March 2001 when then president Pervez Musharraf, reportedly under US pressure, removed him from the chairmanship of Kahuta Research Laboratories and made him a special adviser.

But Pakistan's nuclear establishment never expected to see its most revered hero subjected to questioning.

The move came after Islamabad received a letter from the International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN watchdog, containing allegations that Pakistani scientists were the source of sold-off nuclear knowledge.

Khan said in a speech to the Pakistan Institute of National Affairs in 1990 that he had shopped around on world markets while developing Pakistan's nuclear programme.

"It was not possible for us to make each and every piece of equipment within the country," he said.

Khan was pardoned by Musharraf after his confession but later retracted his remarks.

"I saved the country for the first time when I made Pakistan a nuclear nation and saved it again when I confessed and took the whole blame on myself," Khan told AFP in an interview last year while under effective house arrest.

The scientist believed in nuclear defence as the best deterrent.

After Islamabad carried out atomic tests in 1998 in response to tests by India, Khan said Pakistan "never wanted to make nuclear weapons. It was forced to do so."

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News