ISLAMABAD, Jan 9: The Pakistan People's Party has dismissed the former ISI chief's claims about Libyan help in making nuclear bomb as false and malicious and demanded an inquiry into the matter through parliament.

The PPP spokesman, Senator Farhatullah Babar, in a statement here on Friday, dismissed as false and malicious claims by Gen Hameed Gul that Libya gave Bhutto family millions of dollars for nuclear technology.

The claim that Libya helped finance Pakistan's quest for a nuclear bomb was first made by a journalist in a BBC documentary called the "Islamic Bomb", the spokesman said.

Mr Babar said it was not known who the source for the journalist's information was except that it was wrong. As a press adviser to then government of prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, he had no access to the nuclear secrets.

Nuclear secrets were dealt with by Munir Ahmad Khan of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, a foreign affairs official and Ghulam Ishaq Khan who was then finance secretary before becoming President, the spokesman stated.

The ISI was also totally out of the loop of the nuclear secrets that were looked after by a committee specially constituted and headed by the prime minister, he added.

"... in 1985, the Zia regime falsely claimed that Shah Nawaz was murdered due to quarrels over Libyan money for nuclear technology. The Bhutto family clearly stated that Shah Nawaz was murdered by the agents of the Zia regime.

This wrong information regarding the Libyan connection was spread with greater intensity by Zia regime at the time to cover up the murder of Shah Nawaz Bhutto, he said.

Gen Gul, the senator said, was "simply rehashing the old Zia propaganda". "Gen Zia blackmailed the West claiming that PPP had nuclear relations with Libya... However, this allegation is totally false and at no stage did PPP have any nuclear dealing in any of its governments with Libya.

"The Pakistan People's Party believes that the truth about the nuclear deal with Libya, if there is any given the fact that President Gaddafi's son Saiful Islam has denied it, will definitely come out. It believes that the recent disclosures as well as the debriefing of the scientists will lead to the real culprits door.

The spokesman called for a parliamentary inquiry into the government's allegations that Pakistani scientists were being debriefed for allegedly selling nuclear secrets for greed and self-enrichment.