Don't link us with N Korea's nuke programme: Pak

Pakistan has distanced itself from North Korea's nuclear programme, saying there was 'absolutely no link' between its disgraced scientist A Q Khan, who had confessed to have sold nuclear technology to the Stalinist regime, and the nuclear test conducted by Pyongyang on Monday.

"Pakistan deplores the announcement by Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea that it conducted a nuclear test. In our view, this is a destabilising development in the region," Foreign Office Spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said.

"We have urged DPRK to desist from introducing nuclear weapons in the Korean peninsula. It is regrettable that DPRK chose to ignore the advice of the international community not to test a nuclear weapons device," she told reporters in Islamabad.

Aslam, however, was quick to deny links between Pakistan's nuclear programme and that of North Korea, though Khan, currently under house detention in Islamabad, had publicly confessed in 2003 that he aided the North Korean programme.

"There is absolutely no link between the nuclear test conducted by North Korea and what might have gone on (between) Dr A Q Khan and the North Korean government. North Korea's nuclear programme is plutonium-based and Pakistan's programme is

mainly Uranium based. There are speculations that the plutonium was diverted from North Korean nuclear facility," she claimed.

President Pervez Musharraf, in his memoirs published last month, said that Khan had transferred nearly two dozen centrifuges to North Korea. This was in return for Pyongyang providing its missile technology, which reportedly forms the base for Pakistan's nuclear-capable missiles.

Aslam also defended Pakistan's decision to criticise the North Korean nuclear test when it had conducted such tests in the past in difference to the objections from international community.

"There is a difference. Pakistan did not initiate nuclear tests in this region. We did not initiate nuclear weapons programme. We were acting in purely in self defence," she said.

On the contrary, she said, "Korean peninsula is a nuclear weapons-free zone and we are afraid that this step by DPRK is going to have a chain reaction which nobody wants. It is not interference in North Korea's internal affairs. We are looking at the impact and ramifications for international peace and security," she said.

"Pakistan has consistently supported six- party talks. We believe this mechanism should have been used to address North Korea's concerns. We hope that all sides in the region would exercise restraint," she added.