ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani government has filed a petition in the nation’s High Court seeking to investigate Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist who has confessed to running the world’s largest nuclear proliferation network, over recent reports about his ties to Iran’s nuclear program, a government lawyer said Monday.  The petition was filed on Monday, hours before a court in Lahore was to announce a verdict on Mr. Khan’s petition to have his travel restrictions relaxed.  The court is expected to issue its ruling Wednesday on both, according to lawyers for the government and Mr. Khan.  The government filed its request in an effort to investigate Mr. Khan regarding recent news reports in which he was said to have confessed to supplying Iran with information related to the nuclear program.  A copy of the government petition obtained by The New York Times cited two articles published on March 10 and 14 by The Washington Post that “have national security implications for Pakistan as they contain allegations related to nuclear program and nuclear cooperation. Further they have likelihood of adversely affecting friendly ties with the government of Iran and Iraq.” The petition requested the court to direct Mr. Khan to “refrain from interacting with foreign media.”  The article published on March 14 reported that Mr. Khan had disclosed in a written document that Pakistan gave Iran drawings related to a nuclear bomb, parts of centrifuges to purify uranium and a secret worldwide list of suppliers. The article published on March 10 cited a nuclear weapons expert who said members of Mr. Khan’s network had reached out to Saddam Hussein’s government in 1990. Both Mr. Khan and the Pakistani government have denied these claims.  The government appeared to have filed its request partly to stall the court ruling on Mr. Khan’s petition, and it came as Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, was in the United States for high-level security talks.  Syed Ali Zafar, the lawyer for Mr. Khan, called the government’s petition “irrelevant.”  “Today’s government application is mischief by the government, as it wants to defer the case,” Mr. Zafar said. He added that Mr. Khan had been given a public affidavit saying that his hands are clean.  The government lawyer, Naveed Inayat Malik, declined in a telephone interview to offer further information on how the court had handled the government’s request.  “The court proceedings were held in camera,” he said, referring to a term used here to describe classified proceedings. “It is, therefore, not possible for me to talk about the proceedings.”  A government spokesman told local news outlets last week that the Khan network was a “closed chapter.”  Pakistani authorities have continuously rebuffed international nuclear investigators who want to interview Mr. Khan about his proliferation activities.  Mr. Khan was placed under house arrest in 2004 by President Pervez Musharraf, after confessing to selling nuclear technology to various countries. American officials say they believe that among them were Iran, Libya and North Korea.  But Mr. Khan’s role in developing Pakistan’s nuclear program also gave him the status of a national hero within the country. Right-wing and Islamist political parties continue to praise him as the “father of the bomb.”  Waqar Gillani contributed reporting from Lahore, Pakistan.
The governmentâs petition came a week after reports linked the network of Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistanâs âfather of the bomb,â to the Iranian governmentâs efforts.