Islamabad: Asserting that investigations against Dr A Q Khan and several other nuclear scientists were still continuing, Pakistan today (Feb 9, 2004) said the pardon granted to the top scientist related only to his statement admitting transferring sensitive nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

"The pardon is specific to the charges made so far, and about which Dr A Q Khan has made a confessional statement ...this is not a blanket pardon," Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said at his weekly press briefing.

Asked whether his assertion that Khan was granted conditional pardon meant that he was likely to be prosecuted in future, the spokesman said the probe into allegations of proliferation of nuclear technology were not over and "therefore nothing can be said about future investigations".

"The investigations are continuing and they have not come to a closure. Even the pardon granted to Dr A Q Khan is conditional. It is conditional because it specific to the charges that have come to the surface, which are contained in FIR. They are specific to the results of the current investigations established so far," Masood Khan said.

Despite the pardon, Dr Khan and other tainted scientists would continue to remain under security restrictions and would continue to be questioned, the spokesman added.