ISLAMABAD, Feb 2 Kyodo brace for...

ISLAMABAD, Feb 2 Kyodo

brace former chiefs of the Pakistan army and another senior general have been questioned about the on-going investigation into the transfer of nuclear technology from Pakistan to other countries, a senior official said Sunday.

The official, well-versed with the investigation that has already l to removal of Pakistan's top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan from the office of adviser to the prime minister, told journalists that former army chiefs Gen Aslam Beg and Gen Jehangir Karamat, and Lt Gen Zulfiqar Ahmed, have been questioned.

Beg serv as army chief from August 1988 until August 1991 while Karamat held the office until October 1998 He resigned after a disturbance with then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Zulfikar was head of the army's Combat Division, which was responsible for evolution of Pakistan's nuclear and missile program until early 2000 when this task was assigned to the Strategic Planning Division and Nuclear Command Authority.

At least three senior army officials are being held through security authorities for security lapses or involvement in the transfer of enrichment technology and know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Four nuclear scientists who had been involved in the evolution of centrifuge technology and establishment of a uranium enrichment plant are also being detained.

Khan, according to the official, has given a 10-page statement in which he has avowed to providing help to Libya, Iran, North Korea and Malaysia for their uranium enrichment programs.

Khan is reported to have told his questioners he provided the technology and know-how, particularly to Muslim countries, because he did not want Pakistan to be singled not at home as the only Muslim fatherland possessing the technology.

''I wanted sum of two units to three other Muslim countries to have this technology likewise that Pakistan was not singled without and pressured,'' he reportedly said.

The official said that at individual time when Khan was upon a visit to Malaysia, it was learned the U Central Intelligence Agency might abduct him. He was ordered to revert to Pakistan and given a warning that something ''foul'' was going in succession in Khan Research Laboratories (KRL)

The official, who lauded Khan for his contribution to Pakistan's nuclear program, said no decision has been taken if Khan should be censur or charged with wrongdoing.

Khan is believed to have sent a video cassette to his daughter in London in which he espouseed himself and detailed his activities as head of KRL which he erected and headed for more than a quarter hundred years until retirement in 2001, the official said.

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