Abdul Qadeer Khan, father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb.

Usman Ahmad in Islamabad on Monday with a photograph of his father Nazir Ahmed, chief engineer of KRL. (Reuters)

Islamabad, Jan. 19: Close on the heels of weekend arrests of scientists and senior administration officials associated with the country’s nuclear facilities, Pakistan today said five to six scientists are being quizzed for alleged illegal transfer of nuclear technology to Iran.

“We are interrogating these scientists under Pakistani laws, which require to conclude debriefings in a comprehensive and satisfactory manner,” foreign office spokesperson Masood Khan said at a press briefing.

So far, eight senior officials of Pakistan’s prime uranium enrichment facility — Khan Research Laboratories — have been detained for what officials describe as “routine debriefing sessions”. But families and friends of the people being quizzed claim at least 25 KRL scientists and administration officials are being interrogated in connection with allegations that some of them might have supplied nuclear information and materials to Iran and North Korea.

The debriefings of KRL scientists began in early December based on information provided by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the government of Iran, pointing to certain individuals for involvement in nuclear transfers to Tehran. But while attempting to underscore its commitment to the cause of nuclear non-proliferation, officials in Islamabad have been playing down the “debrief sessions” as questioning of individuals “who might have been driven by personal greed”.

Khan said the “Pakistan government has never proliferated, nor will it ever proliferate...we have a very strong command and control system, as well as a stringent export regime.”

In what observers interpret as the possible tightening of the noose around Abdul Qadeer Khan as a scapegoat, two close aides of the KRL founder were arrested late last week. Retired major Mohammad Islam-ul Haq, his principal staff officer, was taken into custody from Khan’s residence on Saturday night.

Another scientist, Nazir Ahmed, had been taken away a day earlier from his residence. “The family has not heard from him since,” his son Usman said.