It was the first time the Pakistani government has acknowledged that Abd al-Qadir Khan actually gave material to Iran, although it has admitted in the past that his group sold technology and blueprints to several countries.
"Dr Abd al-Qadir gave some centrifuges to Iran," Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad said. "He helped Iran in his personal capacity, and the Pakistan government had nothing to do with it."
Ahmad originally made the remarks at a seminar in Islamabad organised by a local newspaper group, in which he stuck by Pakistan's insistence that despite his crimes, Khan would never be handed over to a third country for prosecution.
Father of bomb
Ahmad said Islamabad was fully cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the world's nuclear watchdog.
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"Abd al-Qadir Khan
helped Iran in his personal capacity, and the Pakistan government had nothing to do with it"
Shaikh Rashid Ahmad,
Pakistan information minister |