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Khan told the Dawn newspaper that the safety
of the nuclear weapons "has been improved
gradually" over the years.
He explained that the nuclear weapons were not
stored in one place and that very few people knew
about their location.
"You can count these people on fingers who
exactly know about the location of (our) nuclear
arsenals,” he said in remarks published May
29.
"These weapons are lying in tunnels and
safe houses where no one can access them, except
very few relevant people," he was quoted
as saying.
Khan's views come following mounting fears globally
that the escalating Islamist violence in Pakistan
could result in the militants one day laying hands
on the nuclear arsenal. Even the recent attack
on Pakistan navy’s Mehran naval air station
has been traced to a former commando of the navy
itself.
Khan also told the daily that Pakistan's nuclear
programme was proceeding without any break for
the past 10 years.
Although I have not been associated with the
programme for the past 10 years, I know it has
been running without any break and the process
of uranium enrichment is in progress," he
said.
He stressed that though the Pakistanis were not
giving "final shape to new nuclear weapons",
the material was being made. It could be assembled
any time if required, he added.
Khan, who mentored Pakistan's nuclear programme
after stealing technology from the west, had in
January 2004 confessed to having sold the country's
nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea.
On Feb 5, 2004, President Pervez Musharraf announced
he had pardoned Khan, who is widely seen as a
national hero in Pakistan.
In 2000, the US accused Pakistan of providing
nuclear weapons' technology to North Korea in
exchange for ballistic missile technology.
A year later, the Pakistani government announced
it had dismissed Khan as the head of Khan Research
Laboratories.
(IANS)
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