WASHINGTON, March 29: President General Pervez Musharraf has made it categorically clear that there is no deal on the Khan network and the operation against Al Qaeda operatives in tribal areas. "This is all humbug. There is just no deal, "Gen Musharraf told the ABC. "If anyone thinks in the United States that we should be coerced into some direction, well, I'm afraid they don't know ground realities here."

He was responding to a question based on speculations that Pakistan has struck a deal with the United States: to make up for taking a soft line against Dr. A. Q. Khan, Pakistan would intensify the battle against the Al Qaeda terrorists along the Afghan border.

"No such deals exists," President Musharraf told the ABC. President Musharraf said that the position had been made clear to officials at the State Department, and they "know that nuclear proliferation has not been done by the government. They know that there are some individuals who have done it."

About Dr Abdul Qadeer Ahmed Khan, he said: "People are, I think, over-assessing the physical damage of the proliferation that he has done." President Musharraf noted that making a nuclear bomb "is not easy it is highly technical," even if a country has designs for nuclear weapons.

"Then, having got the bomb, you need to know how to explode this bomb. You can break it - you can throw it and break it. You can't explode it unless you have a proper expertise over trigger mechanisms," he said.

Asked if he believed that the Al Qaeda had the capability to make a suitcase nuclear bomb, President Musharraf said: "Never. Absolutely impossible," he said. "It's not that you can sit in mountains and make these things right there." -APP