ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has said that Pakistan would under no circumstances permit foreign inspectors to enter the country and monitor its nuclear weapons or civil nuclear facilities.

"This is a very sensitive issue ... Would any other nuclear power allow its sensitive installations to be inspected? Why should Pakistan be expected to allow anybody to inspect?" he asked in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday.

"We are not hiding anything - what is the need of any inspection? What for?" he said and added: "We will cooperate with any organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, or anybody. But don't treat us as if we do not know what we are doing. We are doing everything according to international standards."

He said the investigation into nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan's proliferation ring had not uncovered any evidence that other countries had received nuclear secrets from Pakistan.

Replying to a question, President Musharraf denied that nuclear weapons technology had been exchanged for North Korean ballistic missile technology. "Whatever we bought from North Korea was with money," he said.

Gen Musharraf said Pakistan had no intention of freezing its nuclear weapons programme. It was self-sufficient and would not require the import of more material or designs from abroad, he said and added: "We will never stop our nuclear and missile programme."

"That is our vital national interest. It is totally indigenous now. Whatever had to be imported and procured has been obtained," he said. President Musharraf said Pakistan would not try to match India's nuclear weapons development but would test-fire the Shaheen-II missile with a range of 2,000km in a few weeks.

"We are not interested in competing with India," he said. "If they want to reach 5,000km or have intercontinental ballistic missiles, we are not interested in those. We are only interested in our own defence," he said.

Gen Musharraf said Dr Khan was a hero for him and the nation for having provided Pakistan with its nuclear deterrent. "I have been meeting Dr Khan ... I have had dinners with him and I held him in the highest esteem. Who in Pakistan did not hold him in high esteem," he said.

He said Dr Khan and his six associates had acted without official authorization or knowledge. He said Pakistan's nuclear programme was not under the aegis of the military. "No sir, it is not, under the aegis of the military. It never was and it is not now," Musharraf said.

"We have a National Command Authority with the president as the boss and there are a number of ministers - all the stakeholders - and the military men also. This is not a military body, it is the highest body of the nation," he said.

President Musharraf reiterated that he had heard nothing of Dr Khan's nuclear smuggling since he became the military chief in 1998 and the ruler in 1999.

"I believe in the army dictum that a commander is responsible for all that happens or does not happen in his command, and to that extent any president is responsible for what happens in the country," he said.

"But otherwise, if you are hinting at my direct responsibility, no not at all. I do read in some newspapers some aspersions being cast ... it is all nonsense," Gen Musharraf said. He explained why it was plausible that Dr Khan and his accomplices had managed to smuggle nuclear designs past extensive security checks.

"It is an unfortunate reality when the boss of an institution himself is involved," he said. "If there was a security problem here, and if I myself am involved in the breach, do you think anyone is going to check me? I am free to go anywhere, I can take anything in my car, I can take anything in my briefcase," he said.

He said the investigators in the country had not established that Dr Khan had smuggled anything other than designs for centrifuges. He said the investigation, which was not yet complete, had not so far found that Dr Khan had transferred designs for nuclear weapons or more bulky material.

"What is in a design?" he asked and added: "It is a piece of paper you put in your pocket, or it sits on the computer. For that matter I would say it is in the mind of the man. You do not have to carry it if you know it yourself."

Gen Musharraf said: "A.Q. Khan has written that he will never be involved in these activities again - proliferation activation - that he regrets all that he has done, that he's not going to get involved in anything of this sort. If he breaches that, certainly the pardon will be revoked." - APP