Pakistan today 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."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 advise of the international community not to test a nuclear weapons device," she told reporters here.Aslam, however, was quick to deny links between Pakistan's nuclear programme and that of North Korea, though Khan, currently under house detention here, had publicly confessed in 2003 that he aided 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. (PTI)
