WASHINGTON, May 28: Eight years ago on May 28 Pakistan exploded five underground devices and this week the country’s nuclear programme was singled out for criticism in Washington where some lawmakers even suggested that Islamabad cannot be trusted with atomic weapons.

Pakistan’s nuclear tests followed those of India, which exploded its devices two weeks before Pakistan. Similarly, the attack on Pakistan’s nuclear programme is also linked to India, this time to its efforts to get congressional approval for a nuclear deal it signed with the US in early March.

So far the US Congress has held several hearings on the Indo-US nuclear deal and those opposed to the accord often said that a deal with India would also encourage Pakistan to seek nuclear reactors from its own sources, such as China.

Pakistan also publicly criticised the deal, demanding that Washington offer a similar accord to Islamabad as well. The Bush administration rejected Islamabad’s demand, pointing out that while India had an impeccable record, Pakistan’s chief nuclear scientist, Dr A. Q. Khan, had admitted to smuggling nuclear technology to other nations.

At a hearing of the House subcommittee on international terrorism and non-proliferation, pro-Indian congressmen chose to highlight this point by presenting Pakistan as a state that cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons.

Some lawmakers suggested that the network could not have functioned without the knowledge and support of the Pakistan government and demanded a US-led probe to determine the extent of Pakistan’s involvement with the ring.

In a small but packed hearing room on Capitol Hill, chairman of the House subcommittee, Congressman Ed Royce, called the Pakistani inquiry into the A. Q. Khan network bogus, claiming that so far not a single member of the group had been convicted and Dr Khan himself got away with house arrest.

Congressman Gary Ackerman, a Democrat from New York, went further ahead and raised questions that may have potentially dangerous consequences for Pakistan. He said: “We don’t know whether Mr Khan had contact with Al Qaeda or whether he transferred nuclear technology to Al Qaeda. We don’t know the extent of the involvement of officials who still might be in the Pakistani government or military. We don’t know if President Gen Pervez Musharraf was aware of Mr Khan’s activities or whether he approved it. We don’t know because we have not been able to interview him.”

One congressman mentioned two retired senior military officials, insinuating that they might have been involved with the Khan network.

In another development, the US media reported this week that Swiss prosecutors have been trying to bring charges against three businessmen for playing a critical role in the Khan network.

Swiss authorities have arrested Friedrich Tinner, a Swiss mechanical engineer, and his two sons, Urs and Marco, who are suspected of supplying the network with technology and equipment used for enriching uranium.

The report is also potentially dangerous for Pakistan because it claims that some serving and retired Pakistani officials were also involved with this group.

The report quotes Swiss prosecutors as complaining that the Bush administration was thwarting their efforts to prosecute the three leading members of the network.

The report said that during 2005 Switzerland’s federal authorities made at least four separate appeals to Washington for help, including access to documents and other evidence, but they received neither assistance nor even an acknowledgement.