Pak wants to restrict A Q Khan's movements

The Pakistani government has informed the Lahore high court here that it wants to restrict the movements of disgraced nuclear scientist A Q Khan as he is facing "threats to his life".

The government's position was conveyed to a bench of the Lahore high court on Wednesday by Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan.

The top law official appeared before Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry during the hearing of a government petition asking the court to restrain 73-year-old A Q Khan from moving around freely, meeting people without security clearance and giving interviews to the media.

The Attorney General said the government wanted to restrict Khan's movements as he faced threats to his life.

"The nuclear scientist has already consented to an agreement with the government over his security during the hearing of a case before the now defunct Islamabad high court," he said.

Khan's counsel Ali Zafar argued that the government had been imposing "illegal terms" of an agreement supposedly made with the scientist to provide him security.

Zafar said the pact was not made with Khan's consent and any agreement that would curtail a person's fundamental rights is void and illegal.

He also said the government was restricting Khan by "surreptitiously imposing detention on him" in the garb of security.

The court later adjourned the matter till February 19.

At the last hearing on January 25, the court restored the security protocol for Khan that was agreed on before the Islamabad High Court.

This protocol restricted Khan from moving around without security clearance and giving statements to the media.