PAKISTAN: The unresolved matter of renegade Pakistani atomic scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan simply refuses to die down.
The US remains anxious to interrogate Khan - who confessed over two years ago to proliferating his country's nuclear weapon secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea - for information pertaining to Iran's highly secret and largely unknown nuclear programme.
But Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf's government is determined to block all outside access to the scientist, fearful of what he may reveal of the military's alleged role in his nefarious activities.
As a consequence Pakistani lawmakers earlier this week rallied behind the disgraced Khan, passing a resolution in the senate opposing the demand of their US counterparts for the scientist's custody for further interrogation.
The June 4th resolution said such a demand was a "blatant violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and integrity and interference" in its internal affairs.
Feted for decades as the "father" of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, the 71-year-old Khan was shamed in February, 2004, after he confessed on national television to selling atomic secrets to Libya, North Korea and Iran - dubbed the " axis of evil" states by US President Bush.
Khan was responding to western investigations and the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) revelations that he, and a handful of colleagues, had passed on nuclear weapons know-how to these "rogue states" for over a decade in exchange for vast amounts of money through a shadowy but thriving atomic black market.
Besides blueprints, Khan is also believed to have provided centrifuges to Iran, Libya and North Korea that are vital in the uranium enrichment process central to making atomic bombs, details of which the US is keen to pin down.
Libya, however, has renounced its nuclear ambitions and handed over valuable information to the US and UK that reportedly detail Khan's perfidy in selling Tripoli atomic weapon secrets.
But North Korea and Iran have not altered their position and continue to defy the US and the West.
After his public confession he was placed under house arrest in Islamabad, access to him was prohibited for UN and American officials and President Musharraf and his cabinet repeatedly declared the case closed.
The US, a close Pakistan ally in the war against terror since 9/11, opted not to push either for the scientist's extradition or interrogation.
But his name continued to crop up in connection with Iran's uranium enrichment programme.
The CIA and IAEA officials wanted to talk to Khan but Islamabad doggedly resisted all such demands, insisting that all such queries be routed through Pakistani intelligence officers who would then respond.
However, the suspicion has persisted that the Pakistani authorities are resistant to direct questioning, fearful that he might disclose that successive civilian and military governments and the army knew of his clandestine activities. IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradei referred to Khan's activities after the scandal surfaced as a "nuclear Wal-Mart".
Meanwhile, security around Khan's Islamabad house - which was once his home and is now his prison - has been tightened.
Over the past fortnight he has been allowed few visitors. According to reports, even his daughter Ayesha has been denied access to him as reports emerge of his failing health.
The timing for the tightening of security is mysterious, raising more questions than it answers.
It comes after Pakistani officials announced their investigation of Khan was over and the release from custody of the last of his former staff held by authorities for more than two years on suspicion of conspiring with the top scientist.
Pakistani officials insist the matter is closed, hoping the world may forget about the man the government once feted as a national hero.
But with Iran's nuclear ambitions dominating world security calculations, it is highly unlikely. Until Khan dies he will remain a mysterious but crucial link in Iran's and North Korea's nuclear weapons chain.