ROGUE scientists from Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme used German go- betweens to sell their secrets to Iran, a high-level government source in Islamabad claimed last week.

The scientists, motivated entirely by money, were also helped by two Sri Lankan businessmen based in Dubai when they passed on details of Pakistani nuclear technology during the late 1980s.

The disclosure follows reports that four scientists have been questioned over suspected links with Iran and lends credence to claims in Washington that Pakistan poses some of the biggest international security problems of the year ahead.

Pakistan has long been suspected of responsibility for the proliferation of nuclear know-how, not only to Iran but also to North Korea. The volatility of the first Islamic nuclear power was emphasised on Christmas Day when suicide bombers mounted the second attempt in 11 days to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf.

Fourteen people died in the attack on the president’s motorcade near Rawalpindi. The 40 injured included Major-General Nadeem Taj, who is preparing to take over as the head of military intelligence.

The illegal sale of nuclear secrets came to light when Musharraf visited Tehran after the Iranian government’s decision to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to see its facilities.

Musharraf was caught unawares when the Iranians told him of the Pakistani scientists’ involvement. They also said they had informed the United States. According to the source, who wishes to remain anonymous, Musharraf was aghast.

His horror soon turned to anger because while Pakistan was trying to protect its nuclear assets by convincing the world that it had stringent checks, the country had been betrayed in a way that made it appear to lack control over its scientists.

“It is only Musharraf’s personal credibility with the US and the world that has prevented a horrible backlash,” said one source in the Pakistani government. The embarrassment was compounded when a former army chief suggested that Pakistan sell its nuclear technology to Iran for a sum in the region of $20 billion.

The Pakistani scientists who were subsequently questioned included two men regarded as being close to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the so-called father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb.

Suspicion also fell on Khan, who was built up to heroic proportions by successive Pakistani governments in the 1980s and 1990s. Last week the military guard had gone from Khan’s row of houses in an affluent district of Islamabad. A foreign ministry spokesman confirmed that he was being questioned. He has always denied any link with Iran.

Iran and North Korea might not have been the only ones to ask for Pakistani nuclear technology. A report two years ago claimed that Osama Bin Laden approached a senior Pakistani scientist but had been rebuffed.

Bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called three months ago for the overthrow of Musharraf, an important ally of the United States in the war on terror. Some analysts believe that Al-Qaeda might have been behind last week’s attempt on the president’s life.

The face of one of the suicide bombers became detached from his head when he detonated his explosives and landed on the roof of a police station near the attack. It helped the police to identify him as Jameel Ahmad Khan, of Poonch in Kashmir. They discovered that he was a member of Jaish Mohammed, a group involved in the Kashmiri liberation struggle, closely linked to Al-Qaeda and banned by Musharraf’s government.

The exposure of nuclear scientists, continuing violence over Kashmir and the threats to the president have prompted renewed concern in Washington about the stability of Pakistan and the difficulty that President George W Bush’s administration faces in influencing events there.

A recent report by the Brookings Institution, the independent policy analysts, warned that Pakistan had taken more risks than other nations in the war on terror, yet remained insecure about its relations with Washington. “Insecurity can lead nations to monumental irrationality,” the report said. “Pakistanis . . . have been made to feel their nation is being bullied into working against its own interests.” oMohamed El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said yesterday that Libya seemed far from producing nuclear weapons but possible links between Iran and Libya will be investigated.

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