ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf pardoned Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the country's nuclear bomb, despite his confessed involvement in proliferating nuclear technology.
Musharraf told a news conference in Islamabad on Thursday that he had "received a written appeal for clemency" from Khan and has given him "a written pardon from my side."
"Khan is a national hero and I respect him as such. But when it comes to national interests, they come first and personalities come after," he added.
Musharraf also said Pakistan would not hand over any documents to the International Atomic Energy Agency, submit to an independent inquiry or allow the United Nations to supervise Pakistan's nuclear program.
"We are not rolling back our nuclear program," he assured his nation amid reports in the local media that Musharraf faces tremendous international pressure to wind up Pakistan's nuclear program.
On Wednesday, Khan made a dramatic confession in a televised address to the nation, saying that he accepts "full responsibility" for exporting nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Musharraf said he had received 11 names from investigators probing the nuclear scandal; seven of them are scientists, the statement said. All 11 were involved in proliferating nuclear technology the statement said, but did not name the suspects.
Asked why had the scientists exported nuclear technology to these states, Musharraf said "money" motivated them.
Earlier, the Pakistani cabinet urged Musharraf to forgive Khan following a similar recommendation by the National Command Authority that overseas Pakistan's nuclear program.
Observers in the Pakistani capital say that Musharraf had no choice but to grant the pardon because a trial would have caused further embarrassment for a government already rocked by the nuclear scandal.
A seven-party religious alliance, however, has rejected Musharraf's pardon and Khan's confession saying that he was forced to admit guilt in a scandal he had nothing to do with.
The alliance has called for a countrywide strike on Friday to protest the government's decision to interrogate Khan and other scientists.
"The government is disgracing our national heroes, like Khan, to please America. This is not acceptable," said Sen. Abdul Ghafoor Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, one of the key members of the religious alliance.
The investigation against Khan and six other nuclear scientists began in November after Iran informed the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, that some equipment at its nuclear facilities originated in Pakistan.
Pakistan has rejected allegations that it deliberately allowed some of its scientists to transfer nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Instead Islamabad said that Khan and at least four other scientists violated the country's anti-proliferation laws by exporting nuclear technology to those countries, all considered rogue states in Washington.
Reports Thursday in the Pakistani media said some unnamed Malaysian groups were also involved in helping Pakistani scientists transfer nuclear technology to Libya. The reports could not be confirmed independently.
In a televised confession broadcast on the state-run Pakistan television Wednesday, Khan accepted "full responsibility" for the transfer and said neither the government nor his fellow scientists were involved in the deal.
"My dear brothers and sisters, I have chosen to appear before you to offer my deepest regrets and unqualified apologies," Khan said.
"There was never, ever any kind of authorization for these activities by the government. I take full responsibility for my actions and seek your pardon," said the silver-haired 69-year-old scientist, speaking in English.
Earlier, Khan met Musharraf at the president's army residence in Rawalpindi and pleaded for clemency.
Musharraf later discussed the appeal at a meeting of the National Command Authority, which he heads, and the authority decided to refer the "mercy petition" to the Cabinet.
The Cabinet, which met Thursday, accepted Khan's apology and sent the matter back to Musharraf, urging him to forgive the disgraced scientist.
Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan, who presided over the special Cabinet meeting, also approved Khan's mercy petition, a government official said.
Military sources told UPI that once Musharraf approved Khan's appeal, the scientist would be allowed to live quietly either in Islamabad or Karachi. He would also be allowed to run a private educational setup he founded in Karachi a few years ago to encourage Pakistani students to study science.
Khan, however, has already been removed from all government positions and will not be allowed to hold any official position in the future, the sources said.
Although officially he will not be placed under house arrest, government officials said Pakistani security agencies would continue to monitor his security arrangements and decide who the scientist meets after his pardon. He will not be free to leave Pakistan and his activities inside the country will also be monitored, the sources said.
Other scientists arrested with Khan may face a similar situation.
The sources told UPI that Pakistan also has decided to retire all scientists who have completed 25 years of service in the nuclear establishment. The move, they said, aims at preventing the scientists from becoming too powerful.
The government, the sources said, also has decided to hand over all administrative and security responsibilities to a newly created organization called the Strategic Planning Division. Although the department was set up two years ago, senior scientists like Khan continued to hold administrative powers until recently.
A government official in Islamabad rejected speculation that the government was using Khan as a scapegoat to hide the involvement of the Pakistani establishment in the nuclear scandal.
The Pakistani Foreign Office's official spokesman, Masood Khan, told reporters in Islamabad the investigation has established that no past or present government was ever involved.
"You know the president was speaking on the subject a couple of weeks ago and he said that his predecessors Nawaz Sharif and Benezir Bhutto (former prime ministers) were never involved in the scandal," the spokesman said.
"So there is no culpability on the part of the government."
Musharraf told a state assembly in Pakistani Kashmir that his government has no plan to roll back Pakistan's nuclear program despite the scandal.
"The nuclear assets ... are part of our vital national interests and I would rather perish than accept a compromise on our vital national interests," he said.
