ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani authorities interrogated two leading nuclear scientists Thursday about possible contacts with the leader of Afghanistan's Taliban militia, government officials said.
Sultan Bashiru-Din Mehmood, one of the founders of Pakistan's nuclear program, was detained Tuesday by intelligence agents in the eastern city of Lahore. Abdul Majid, a scientist who worked for years with Mehmood at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, was also being held, officials in the Interior Ministry said on condition of anonymity. (Read photo caption below)
Government officials were not available to confirm the detentions on the record.
The sources said the men were being questioned about any possible links to Afghan officials, including Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar. Neither has been charged with any crime.
Mehmood and a group of friends who are mostly scientists and engineers have been working on rehabilitation projects in war-ravaged Afghanistan.
But a senior government official said on condition of anonymity that Mehmood is not suspected of being linked to terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden or his al-Qaida network.
Foreign nations worry about political unrest in Pakistan because the country, like its neighbor and rival, India, is a nuclear power. Some say uncertainty in the government could threaten the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has drawn the wrath of Islamic militants for his decision to support the United States in its fight against terrorism and its airstrikes on Afghanistan. Some have advocated the overthrow of Musharraf.
But the president insists that the nation is behind him, and that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are in secure hands.
PHOTO CAPTION:
The scientists were senior figures in the nuclear programme