Musharraf said Pakistan's investigation of the smuggling ring centred around scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan so far indicated that only designs for centrifuges to enrich uranium to weapons-grade material had been leaked to Iran.

And he emphatically denied reports Pakistan had traded nuclear technology for North Korean ballistic missile technology, saying Pakistan paid cash for North Korean surface-to-surface missiles in 2002.

"Why should Pakistan be expected to allow anybody to inspect?" Musharraf told the London-based Financial Times in an interview published Wednesday.

"We are not hiding anything ... what is the need of any inspection," said Musharraf, who was head of the armed forces before seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999.

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 selling nuclear secrets.

The scandal has raised doubts about the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and has led to allegations that the Pakistani military was directly involved in proliferation.

But the Pakistani leader again insisted that Khan, together with six other scientists and officials currently in custody, acted alone in selling nuclear technology without the government's or the military's knowledge.

"I believe in the army dictum that a commander is responsible for all that happens or does not happen in his command -- and to that extent any president is responsible for what happens in the country," he said.

"But otherwise, if you are hinting at my direct responsibility, no not at all," he said.

Musharraf said Iran was the only country which had received nuclear secrets from Khan, despite reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency and Western governments that Libya and North Korea were also beneficiaries.

He also said Pakistan's ongoing investigation had found that Khan only sold designs for centrifuges rather designs for nuclear weapons.

Musharraf said Pakistan would continue to develop its nuclear and missile programmes to create a deterrent, and would test a Shaheen II missile with a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) in the next few weeks.

"We will never stop our nuclear and missile programmes," he said. "That is our vital national interest. It is totally indigenous now."

"We are not interested in competing with India. If they want to reach 5,000 kilometres or have intercontinental ballistic missiles, we are not interested in those. We are only interested in our own defence."

Pakistan launched an investigation of its nuclear scientists in November after it received a letter from the IAEA.

In an 11-page report detailing the leaks which took place between 1986 and 1993, Khan said he was involved in giving nuclear information for groups working for Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Musharraf said Khan had given a written undertaking not to resume contacts with the "nuclear underworld" and that if this promise was breached his pardon would be rescinded.

He also said Khan would be allowed to keep his extensive financial assets.

"Yes, he has property and he has been buying and spending left right and centre. But we have not taken them (his assets) over. We are not planning to."

burs-pch/sdm

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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