Word: musharraf
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...Khan appeared on Pakistani national television and confessed to operating a clandestine network that sold nuclear secrets. Then President Pervez Musharraf pardoned him the next day and Khan was placed under de facto house arrest. While the Pakistani government claimed he was being held for his own protection, Khan was not allowed to move freely...
...Khan said that his 2004 televised confession was a lie and that he had been pressured by Musharraf into making it. The same year, according to the Associated Press, the Pakistani government ordered Khan not to discuss nuclear weapons technology with anyone, including his family...
Although it is unclear whether Pakistan's new civilian government had a hand in his release, Khan offered thanks to President Asif Ali Zardari for lifting the restrictions imposed on him by his predecessor, Pervez Musharraf. Zardari may have been averse to the international criticism likely to come from restoring Khan's freedom of movement, but it was a government clarification that was key to the court's decision. A government lawyer told the court some weeks ago that Khan was not under formal house arrest but merely kept under tight security for his own protection. Seizing on that admission...
Khan was placed under house arrest in 2004 after he appeared on Pakistani state television to issue a teary-eyed confession. In that midnight appearance, speaking in English, he said he claimed sole responsibility for his actions. The next day, then President Musharraf pardoned the father of the country's nuclear program, citing his status as a national hero for establishing Pakistan as the first Muslim nuclear state and sparing him the indignity of a trial and imprisonment. Islamabad has since repeatedly rebuffed all calls from the IAEA and Washington to question Khan, saying that it has passed...
Whether that keeps him from actually speaking his mind is another thing. Khan has never let gag orders keep him silent for long. Indeed, over the past year, as Musharraf quit office and the new government eased in, the conditions of Khan's house arrest have steadily relaxed. Last year, he was allowed to meet friends, have relatives visit and even travel to Karachi amid tight security. Toward the end of Musharraf's rule, he sparked controversy after giving a slew of interviews in which he retracted his confession and claimed that he had been forced to read a statement...