ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: Nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan on Thursday told the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that Gen Pervez Musharaf had persuaded him to make the “so-called confession” about his role in the nuclear proliferation in the name of “national interest” and on the promise of keeping him a “free man and a hero.”

Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Aslam, who had taken up a petition of Barrister M. Javed Iqbal Jafree, seeking review of the court’s July 21 verdict, reserved the judgment on its maintainability, but directed Deputy Attorney General of Pakistan Amjad Iqbal Qureshi to submit in two days relevant cases to help decide the possibility of the petition on habeas corpus grounds.

Barrister Jafree had requested the high court to review its decision of barring the scientist from speaking on nuclear proliferation, but allowing him to meet relatives and travel in the country after security clearance.

Dr Khan, in his handwritten letter in Urdu of Sept 21, alleged that the confession he had read on the television in Feb 2004 had been given to him by the SPD (Strategic Planning Division) with an assurance that he would be a free man after four months as “all is being done to satisfy the US”. “But four months have stretched to four years and I am still under house arrest.”

The letter, however, did not mention what kind of “persuasion” by Gen Musharraf compelled him to accept “wrongdoings”.

Dr Khan had confessed on television to having transferred nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. He was pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf, but placed under house arrest.

In a separate letter in English, Dr Khan requested the court to review its earlier judgment which had virtually put him under house arrest for life with no rights or facilities.

The judgment, Dr Khan stated, had mistakenly mentioned the Pakistan Science Foundation with which he had nothing to do. “I want to regularly visit Pakistan Academy of Sciences, of which I was President for six years,” the letter said.

Barrister Jafree told the court that Dr Khan had even been barred from a mosque that he himself had conceived.

The counsel also informed the court that his client wanted to witness the proceedings provided the government ensured his security.