In an interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel, Hendrina Khan said her husband had only carried out government orders by shipping centrifuge tubes used to enrich uranium to North Korea in 2000, among other activites.

"It is too late for (the concerned government and Musharraf) to 'confess'. The consequences for the country would be too drastic ... especially from the Americans who have been supporting Musharraf through thick and thin," Hendrina Khan said.

Abdul Qadeer Khan, whose health is deteriorating, is under house arrest. His wife said she fears that the government will "prevent the truth from coming out" until the day he dies.

Musharraf, in his 2006 memoir, "In the Line of Fire," wrote that neither he nor his government nor any member of Pakistan's Army had any knowledge of A.Q. Khan's alleged nuclear network.

"On the basis of the thorough probe that we conducted in 2003-2004," Musharraf wrote, "I can say with confidence that neither the Pakistan Army nor any of the past governments of Pakistan was ever involved or had any knowledge of A.Q.'s proliferation activities. The show was completely A.Q.'s."