ISLAMABAD, July 5: The Strategic Planning Division has said irrefutable evidence is available to prove Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan’s involvement in nuclear proliferation.

“We are ready to share the evidence with a select group of neutral persons,” Lt-Gen (retd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, the head of the division, said on Saturday in reaction to Dr Khan’s claim the previous day about the involvement of the Army in the smuggling of centrifuges to North Korea.

Khalid Kidwai, however, said it was for the government to decide about the ‘set of select people’ with whom the evidence can be shared.

This was the first official comment by the security establishment since Dr Khan started giving interviews claiming he was coerced into confessing that he had transferred nuclear technology.

The SPD chief said it was the presence of a “pile of evidence” that had forced Dr Khan to tender an apology to the nation leading to a conditional pardon by the president.

He said such “irresponsible statements” were against the national interest and in violation of the conditions agreed to by Dr Khan for his pardon.

Briefing a select group of reporters at the SPD, he said Dr Khan had voluntarily opted out of the option of trial and adopted the path of tendering apology to the nation, leading to his pardon.

He said Dr Qadeer had tried to revive a closed chapter by making a false claim which may have negative repercussions for the country. He said the then Director General Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) General Ehsan and he held a series of sessions with Dr A. Q. Khan in 2003. He said initially he started with denials, but as evidence mounted, he desired that his request for mercy be conveyed to President Musharraf.

He said President Musharraf insisted that this was nothing personal between him and Dr Khan and therefore he should apologize to the nation. He rejected the claim by Dr Khan that he was forced to sign a document in the office of the President. He said the draft seeking pardon was prepared by NCA and was amended at more than one place by Dr Khan with his pen before signing it.

He said the pardon had two major conditions. The first was an undertaking by Dr Khan that he will not make a statement that may affect country’s security. The other condition was that the pardon would be ineffective if an evidence of illegal export of “nuclear-related material” to some country other than Iran, North Korea or Libya was found.

He said there were no threats hurled on either Dr Khan or his family. He said it went through a legal procedure with the involvement of the Attorney General. He rejected the claim about a deal with Dr Khan. “There were go-betweens, there were no facilitators, there was no deal. He may have tried something privately.”

General Kidwai said Dr Khan was making offensive statements in violation of the conditions. He, however, said the proposal of reviewing the conditional offer was not under consideration at this point of time.. “But the government was grappling with the issue as how to handle the situation arising out of recent developments.

He said Dr Khan had been offered to see his friends and relatives at their place several times. “He wants total freedom without security, which was not possible.” He said during his visit to National Sciences Academy, Dr Khan also asked a member of the proliferator’s group to reach there.

He said Dr Khan was asked to give a list of frequent visitors, who could be instantly facilitated when they come to see him. He said the list of 30 persons given by him included names of four persons who were quizzed in connection with the nuclear proliferation episode.

He said Dr Khan has tried to turn the whole situation upside down and make everybody else guilty except him.

Government and security officials privy to the proliferation scandal say Dr. Khan’s recent outburst is largely based on the premise that the country’s nuclear establishment is not in a position to go public with the results of his ‘debriefing’ and investigation as some of the information may compromise matters of national security.

But a senior members of the government said if his diatribe continued his bluff may soon be called, most probably in the form of an in-camera trial.