ISLAMABAD, June 7: Presi-dent Pervez Musharraf’s close aides called on Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan on Saturday and asked him to avoid giving statements against the president.

The meeting took place in the backdrop of the scientist’s recent statements that he had made the confession under pressure.

Dr Qadeer has recently said that he had given the televised confessional statement in the larger interest of the country, but the promises made to him by President Musharraf for doing so had never been fulfilled. According to the sources, the president’s aides told Dr Khan that his case could be reviewed and restrictions on his movement could be lifted, if he promised not to harm President Mush-arraf’s image in the media. The sources claimed that Dr Khan gave a positive response to the offer.