Pakistan Seeks Permission To Investigate Nuclear Scientist

Pakistan's government has sought court permission to investigate disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan on charges of illegally transferring nuclear know-how to Iraq and Iran.

A government lawyer announced the move just days before strategic talks between the United States and Islamabad.

Pakistan is expected to ask for a civilian nuclear deal similar to the one between India and the United States.

Khan was set free in February 2009 after extensive interviews in which he implicated former President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistani military officials in nuclear proliferation. He withdrew a reported confession from 2004 in which he was said to have admitted to wrongfully transferring nuclear technology to Iran, Libya, and North Korea.

compiled from agency reports