PAKISTAN: US Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to visit Pakistan and meet President Pervez Musharraf soon to discuss the nuclear proliferation inquiry, a government official said yesterday.
Mr Powell spoke to Mr Musharraf on Saturday by telephone about the sale of nuclear information by Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, revered as the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb and pardoned by the government for his actions.
"During the conversation, President Musharraf asked Powell to visit Pakistan, and he said he would do so quite soon," the official said.
In a dramatic televised confession on Wednesday, Dr Khan said he acted independently in leaking secrets as head of Pakistan's nuclear programme from the 1970s.
The English-language daily Dawn said Mr Powell would visit this month, but the official said dates had yet to be fixed.
"Mr Powell commended the government of Pakistan's actions and expressed satisfaction over the manner of these investigations," the official said. "Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state and will continue to co-operate."
Another local newspaper said Mr Powell expressed President Bush's concern about the role of Pakistani scientists in nuclear proliferation to Iran, Libya and North Korea and also urged Pakistan to share more information.
The News also said that in October, US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Assistant Secretary of State Christina Rocca personally presented "incredible evidence" to Mr Musharraf about the leaking of nuclear secrets by its scientists.
The evidence provided by the US included details of Dr Khan's trips to the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Libya, Iran and North Korea; minute details of his meetings with nuclear black marketers; documentary evidence of the sale of nuclear hardware and designs; and bank account details, the paper said.