A Pakistani court on Friday declared disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan a “free citizen” asking the government to lift restrictions on his movement. “The court (the Lahore high court) has declared nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan a free citizen and under the order his movement cannot be restricted,” a court official said. A.Q. Khan in his petition had said he has been kept in illegal detention and not being permitted to visit any place.
The government defended restrictions on his movement saying that Dr Khan was “an important person” so the government has taken steps for his security. “He is not being kept in illegal detention,” the government lawyer said.
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Rajapakse rejects war crimes probe
Colombo, May 28: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse has rejected international calls for a war crimes probe into the final offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009.
In an interview with the Al-Jazeera television news network on Thursday, Mr Rajapakse said he would not tolerate any outside review of a campaign that he insisted was solely aimed at “defeating terrorism”.
“I don’t want my internal matters to be inquired by any other country or any other NGOs. We will look after that,” Mr Rajapakse said. A transcript of the interview was released by the President’s office on Friday. Mr Rajapakse stressed that security forces had not targeted Tamil civilians and insisted that no non-combatants were killed. He added, however, that he was prepared to punish anyone found guilty of excesses. —AFP