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A.Q. Khan quizzed by US investigators
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 26
Pakistan’s fallen hero Dr A.Q. Khan has been intensively questioned by US investigation team in Islamabad since February 5.

Diplomatic sources here said the US investigators quizzed the pardoned nuclear scientist to find out whether the Pakistan Government was telling them the truth or not.

There are reports that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief George Tenet, who recently visited Pakistan, met Dr Khan in Islamabad on February 12 to check the veracity of information passed on to the US State Department regarding transfer of nuclear technology by Pakistan to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

The US investigators were also trying to find out the role of Dubai-based firms, which were set up by Mr Saddam Hussein to acquire centrifuges.

There are reports that the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation had been trying to establish Pakistan’s links with Iran, Libya and North Korean after the CIA had tracked down a Pakistani aircraft C-130 that landed in a North Korean airfield in July 2002. The aircraft had carried a set of ballistic missile parts.