IAEA wants to see Pakistan nuke facilities

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 26 (UPI) -- The International Atomic Energy Agency has sought Pakistan's permission to inspect some of its nuclear installations, The News daily of Pakistan reported.

Spokeswoman and senior information officer Melissa Fleming said the IAEA wants to know from Pakistan whether some other countries or non-governmental entities had been buying nuclear technology as customers of the A.Q. Khan network.

"We want Pakistan to allow the IAEA inspectors visits to the relevant Pakistani nuclear facilities enabling them to take environmental samples which could help in verifying the Iranian claim that highly enriched uranium contamination found in Iran originated from Pakistan," she said in a phone interview with The News.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, admitted last month that he had shared nuclear technology with Iran, Libya and North Korea for more than a decade.

However, Pakistan's Minister for Information Sheikh Rashid said that there was no need to allow inspection of nuclear sites.

He said that IAEA should inform Pakistan if they have found anything from Iran so that Pakistan could confirm by tests, Geo TV reported.