London: Benazir Bhutto, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the leader of Pakistan People's Party, said that A Q Khan, the nuclear scientist who publicly confessed his guilt, was "covering up" for President Musharraf.

Bhutto also said that Khan's life could be in danger because he knows "too much about the people who ordered him to export nuclear technology"

"We believe that he's covering up for Musharraf," Bhutto, the Pakistan People's Party leader, told BBC television's "Breakfast with Frost" current affairs programme.

"And we think that if Musharraf has endangered our nuclear assets and endangered our country's reputation by involving himself in the export of nuclear technology he has no business to remain in power.

"People in my country think that Mr Qadeer Khan is being made a scapegoat and they believe that he's being kept under arrest and he could even be killed to silence him forever because he knows too much about the people who ordered him to export nuclear technology," Bhutto claimed.

She added, "I know Qadeer Khan and I found it very hard to believe that he could have exported nuclear technology on his own. One person could not do it because of the enormous security."

Musharraf on February 4 pardoned Khan, considered a national hero in Pakistan for guiding the programme, which built the country's nuclear bomb, after the scientist confessed to giving nuclear information for groups working for Iran, Libya and North Korea.