Islamabad: The United States has accused Pakistan's key uranium enrichment plant of helping "a foreign country, person or entity" acquire or develop weapons of mass destruction, according to a statement made public on March 31.

The allegation is contained in Washington's announcement of sanctions against the A Q Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), a uranium enrichment facility named after the man credited as the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

The US Embassy in Islamabad said the sanctions were imposed because of KRL's "material contribution to the efforts of a foreign (non-US) country, person or entity of proliferation concern, to use, acquire, design, develop and or secure weapons of mass destruction, and/or missiles capable of delivering mass destruction."

The decision to impose the sanctions, described as "non-proliferation penalties", was taken on March 24, an Embassy spokeswoman said. The "foreign country, person or entity of proliferation concern" was not identified.

Khan and KRL are at the centre of widely reported allegations from unnamed US officials since last year that Pakistan helped North Korea develop nuclear weapons by providing it with the designs for making uranium centrifuges.

Agencies