IAEA ONLY HAS TO ASK FOR ISLAMABAD'S PERMISSION TO INSPECT ITS NUCLEAR FACILITIES

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ISLAMABAD, MARCH 26. /RIA NOVOSTI / -- The International Atomic Energy Agency has asked the government of Pakistan to allow inspection of its nuclear facilities and provide information on the proven fact of illegal sale of nuclear secrets, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told The News daily in an interview.

Pakistan cooperates with the agency in these matters but we hope for the development of voluntary cooperation, Fleming said.

IAEA inspectors have to take samples from several Pakistani nuclear facilities in order to check Iran's allegations that clean uranium had arrived there from Pakistan, she said.

The IAEA also wants to know what countries or organisations have bought the nuclear technologies through the network of "the father of the Islamic atomic bomb" Abdul Qadeer Khan.

The IAEA spokeswoman said that the two requests had been officially passed to Islamabad. She refused to say what the reaction of the Pakistani leadership was.

Until now, the leadership of Pakistan said that that it was not going to invite IAEA inspectors, simultaneously voicing readiness to cooperate with the IAEA.

In February 2004, in a televised address to the nation, Abdul Qadeer Khan admitted involvement in the sale of nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran. The government and the army were not involved in such leaks, he stressed.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf pardoned "the national hero" for his merits in "the strengthening of the national defence capacity".

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