WASHINGTON, Sept 2: Current political troubles in Pakistan allow the United States to demand direct access to Dr A. Q. Khan, says a Washington-based pressure group, the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

In a report released by a US news agency, UPI, Travis Sharp, the group’s military policy analyst, and Max Postman, a researcher, argue that now is the time to seek direct access to the man who the United States believes headed a network of international proliferators.

“Pressuring a weakened strategic ally by reopening old wounds carries a certain amount of risk,” the authors concede, but argue that in the current circumstances Islamabad can be persuaded to accept the US demand.

“With Musharraf vulnerable and looking for support, now is the time for US officials to ask for access to Khan ... agreement on dealing with Khan would be a good first step toward negotiating the thornier issue of eliminating terrorist encampments in Pakistan’s tribal areas,” the authors argue.

They say that the issue of alleged Al Qaeda hideouts in the tribal area will figure prominently in US-Pakistani relations “regardless of whether Gen Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif or some combination of the three is leading Pakistan.”

The report quotes former CIA Director George Tenet as saying that Dr Khan is “at least as dangerous as Osama bin Laden,’’ adding that the United States should have never accepted Pakistan’s argument that it cannot allow direct access to the scientist.

The report also quotes from a recent congressional bill which urges the US administration to “work with the government of Pakistan to dismantle existing proliferation networks and prevent the proliferation of nuclear technology.”

Another quote from Under-secretary of State Nicholas Burns says that Islamabad would not be offered a deal similar to the US-India nuclear cooperation arrangement because “Pakistan has a past in terms of nuclear proliferation which, with the A. Q. Khan network, was very troubling”.

Meanwhile, some media outlets also published excerpts from a book, “Pakistan, the United States and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons,” which claims that the government in Islamabad was also involved in the smuggling ring Dr Khan allegedly led.