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Pak denies offering nukes to Nigeria
Shyam Bhatia in London |
March 04, 2004 18:40 IST
Pakistan has denied claims that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Muhammad Aziz Khan has offered to help Nigeria acquire nuclear weapons.
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"We are denying it. This is baseless. He said nothing of this kind," Pakistan military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said in a statement issued from Islamabad.Islamabad's denial comes after a statement from Nigeria's defence ministry that the visiting Pakistani general "said that his country is working out the dynamics of how they can assist Nigeria's armed forces to strengthen its military capability and to acquire nuclear power."
The claim and counter claim by Nigeria's and Pakistan's defence ministries follows last month's admission by renegade Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadir Khan that he facilitated nuclear exports to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
Khan's theft of nuclear blueprints from Holland more than 20 years ago helped Pakistan gain admission into the world's exclusive club of nuclear weapons states.
The uranium enrichment plants that were subsequently built at Kahuta near Rawalpindi were all based on the stolen designs from Holland.
Khan later became a multi millionaire by selling his stolen expertise to the highest bidders, including government representatives from Libya, Iran and North Korea.
Iran is believed to have gifted Khan a villa on the Caspian Sea and a share in lucrative caviar sales.