Provide medical care to AQ Khan: Pak court to govt

A Pakistani court on Tuesday directed the federal government to provide medical care and other facilities to disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan after he complained that authorities had placed a 'ban on water and medical supplies' to him under the garb of a court order.

A single-judge bench of the Lahore High Court issued the order after Khan's counsel Syed Ali Zafar told it on Monday that the government had deprived the scientist of medical facilities and barred him from leaving his residence even to visit his brother who is critically ill in hospital.

Zafar said this was done even though arguments in a case for easing restrictions on Khan were going on in the court.

The bench also issued a notice to the attorney general and asked him to file a response to Khan's complaint by February 19.

Khan's counsel told the court that the scientist's relatives and friends had been stopped from visiting him and the government, in an unprecedented move, had restricted the supply of water to his residence and stopped his doctor and medical staff from visiting him.

This, Zafar contended, could severely jeopardize Khan's health.

The counsel alleged that all this was being done in the garb of an interim order issued recently by the high court, in which the bench had directed the federal government to provide security to the scientist.

Zafar said the government's action amounted to a most serious breach of Khan's basic fundamental rights and that this could not have been the intention of the HC when it passed the recent order.

He asked the court to direct the government not to dictate the terms of security for Khan.

The federal government has filed a petition in the Lahore High Court asking it to bar Khan from moving around freely, meeting people and giving interviews to the media in the interest of national security.

Khan was placed under house arrest in early 2004 after he confessed to running a nuclear proliferation network on state-run television.

Following a secret understanding between Khan and the government last year, a court eased some of the restrictions imposed on him.

However, Khan has filed several petitions seeking further easing of restrictions on his movements.

Recent revelations by the Western media on the basis of a letter written by Khan to a journalist have caused embarrassment to the Pakistan government, which insists that the scientist's case is a 'closed chapter.'

Image: A Q Khan