ISLAMABAD: Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan declined on Wednesday to comment on the veracity of a letter he had allegedly written to his wife about five years ago and whose contents published by a British newspaper have stirred up a fresh controversy about his role in nuclear proliferation.

Revelations made in the letter prompted an immediate reaction from the United States which said that Dr A.Q. Khan was still a ‘risk for proliferation.’

But Dr Khan was reluctant to confirm or deny the contents of the letter. ‘I cannot comment on the report of Sunday Times because I have so far not gone through it,’ he said.

‘As the matter of my alleged involvement in nuclear proliferation is sub judice, I cannot comment on the new media report.’

According to the newspaper, the four-page letter was recovered from Dr Qadeer’s daughter by Dutch secret agents in 2004. It claimed that neither the letter’s recovery nor its contents had been reported in the past.

‘I have become tired of clarifying my position, but I know that this is an unending controversy,’ Dr Khan said.

In Feb 2004, three years after his retirement, Dr Khan had confessed on national television to having passed on nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. He was placed under house-arrest on Feb 1, 2004, by then president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

According to the British newspaper, the letter dated Dec 10, 2003, and addressed to Henny (Dr Qadeer’s Dutch wife) was apparently written in haste. It starts simply: ‘Darling, if the government plays any mischief with me take a tough stand.’

In numbered paragraphs, it outlines Pakistan’s nuclear cooperation with China, Iran and North Korea, and also mentions Libya. It ends: ‘They might try to get rid of me to cover up all the things they got done by me.’The paper quoted the letter as saying: ‘We put up a centrifuge plant at Hanzhong (250km southwest of Xian). The Chinese gave us drawings of the nuclear weapon, gave us 50kg of enriched uranium, gave us 10 tons of UF6 (natural) and five tons of UF6 (three per cent).’ (UF6 is uranium hexafluoride, the gaseous feedstock for an enrichment

plant.)

About Iran, the letter said: ‘Probably with the blessings of BB (Benazir Bhutto, who became prime minister in 1988) and (a now-retired general)… General Imtiaz (Benazir’s defence adviser, now dead) asked… me to give a set of drawings and some components to the Iranians…The names and addresses of suppliers were also given to the Iranians.’

About North Korea, it said: ‘(A now retired general) took $3 million through me from the N. Koreans and asked me to give some drawings and machines.’

The Obama administration has said the nuclear scientist remains a proliferation concern and it was in constant touch with the Pakistani authorities.

‘We have said consistently that we have real concerns about Mr A.Q. Khan. We believe that he remains a risk for proliferation,’ State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in a weekly media briefing.

However, he avoided making any comment on the revelation that Pakistan supplied nuclear know-how to China, Iran, Libya and North Korea.