A man sells prayer caps in Islamabad. (Reuters)

Islamabad, Jan. 5 (Reuters): Pakistan said today a British newspaper report that said Pakistani scientists sold plans to make nuclear bombs to Libya appeared unsubstantiated, but any official complaint would be investigated.

Pakistan admitted late last year that scientists involved in its atom bomb programme may have been driven by “personal ambition or greed” to export technology to Iran, but insisted the the government had no part in any such deals.

The London Sunday Times quoted Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, as saying that Libya had spent $40 million on nuclear components from various black-market dealers, including Pakistani scientists.

A senior Pakistani official, who did not want to be identified, said the government had received information in the past that some scientists had sold nuclear technology to Iran and these charges were being investigated.

“If any such complaint is officially received in relation to Libya, that will be also be examined and investigated. So far they seem more like totally unsubstantiated allegations.”

Today, an Arabic newspaper said Saif al-Islam Gaddafi had denied a section of the Sunday Times report that said Libya would allow US and British troops to be based there after Tripoli agreed to abandon weapons of mass destruction programmes.

Libya, long on a US list of sponsors of terrorism, said last month it was abandoning plans to build an atomic bomb and other weapons of mass destruction. It now wants trading benefits, including an end to US sanctions. Analysts say Gaddafi senior is grooming Saif al-Islam to succeed him.

Pakistan said last month it was determined to get to the bottom of allegations that nuclear technology may have been transferred to Iran. It said it began questioning scientists from a state-run laboratory set up by the father of its bomb programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, in November after approaches by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency and information from the Iran’s government pointing “to certain individuals”. Among those questioned was Khan himself, who is revered as a national hero for developing a nuclear bomb tested in 1998 to match that of India.

No details of the investigations have been made public.

Late last year Washington said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf had assured it his government had not — at least “in the present time” — provided any nuclear secrets to countries like Iran and North Korea.

Past allegations of Pakistani technology transfers, not only to Iran but also to North Korea, have been an embarrassment for the White House, which relies on Pakistan as a key ally in its battle against al Qaida and allied Islamic militants.

Priest shot

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a priest in the central Pakistani city of Khanewal today, police said.

The priest, Mukhtar Masih, was headed to the railway station to catch a train for Lahore when the gunmen opened fire, Khanewal’s police chief Jamil Ahmed said. He said the priest was hit by three bullets and died on the spot.

“It is premature to speculate on the motive behind the murder,” jamil said.

Christians and non-Muslim minorities form around three per cent of Pakistan’s 145 million population.