ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: Leaders of various political parties on Saturday criticized the government's decision to sack Dr A.Q. Khan from his position as adviser to the prime minister and said this would cause irreparable damage to the country's integrity.

Chairman of the PML-N Raja Zafarul Haq, in a statement, said: "Wittingly or unwittingly, under pressure, the rulers of Pakistan today are hurtling the country to a very dark end."

He said this could result in a tragedy much bigger than the 1971 debacle. He said it was time for all political parties, irrespective of their past or views on different issues, to plan a unified action to stop the process of causing irreparable damage to the country's integrity.

Talking to Dawn, People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Senator Farhatullah Khan Babar said the party was of the view that scientists were being made scapegoats and the decision to remove Dr Khan from his post of adviser strengthened this viewpoint. He said the party would issue the official reaction on the issue after consultations with the party's main leadership.

Chairman Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan on Saturday termed the sacking of Dr A.Q. Khan the beginning of the end of the nuclear programme.

In a statement, the PTI chief alleged that under the conspiracy, the nuclear programme was being systematically destroyed by first undermining the credibility of the nuclear scientists. This would in turn lead to complete crippling of nuclear organizations thus leading to a total freeze of nuclear weapons development, he added.

PML-Q Senator Tariq Azeem said Dr A.Q. Khan had himself offered resignation to facilitate and expedite the ongoing inquiries. He said the government accepted his resignation with the hope that it would help the government to carry out investigations fairly.

He said services of Dr Khan for the country would always be remembered. He asked other political parties to keep this issue above their personal politics. He said all facts would be laid before the nation in due course of time.

On the other hand, spokesman for the Communist Party of Pakistan Engineer Jameel Malik has asked the government to arrest Dr A.Q. Khan and give punishment to all those responsible for transfer of nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.

In a statement issued from Attock Cantonment, Mr Malik asked other political and religious parties not to politicize the issue as it was a sensitive matter. He said at present over 6,000 scientists and 60,000 other staff members were working in various sensitive institutions and they had no role in the sale of nuclear technology as only a few persons were involved in this act.