A court has ordered the government and Pakistan's top military-run spy network to explain why a senior nuclear scientist has been detained and what charges he faces, a lawyer said on Tuesday. Attiqur Rahman, who worked for Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), was picked up on his wedding day from his home in the north-western city of Abbottabad about two years ago, said Mohammed Ikram Chaudhry, a lawyer for Rahman. PAEC operates several nuclear power plants and a research facility near the capital, Islamabad, but it is not known whether or how closely it is linked with Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme.
The nuclear programme's top scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, confessed in February 2004 that he gave sensitive technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, sparking a probe into his alleged nuclear black marketing. Earlier this month, a senior aide to Khan was released more than two years after he was detained over the nuclear scandal. The Foreign Ministry said Mohammed Farooq's release marked the end of the investigation.