On February 5, 2004, President Musharraf of Pakistan issued a pardon to Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the nation's leading nuclear scientist. He had admitted to privately leaking nuclear weapons technology to "rogue" states such as Iran, Libya and North Korea over at least ten years beginning in the late

1980s. Though Pakistan is not a party to the 1970 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NNT) [21 U.S.T. 483; T.I.A.S. 6839; 729 U.N.T.S. 161], Mr. Musharraf has reportedly assured the U. S. and Britain that his government has not been exporting nuclear weapons technology. [Editorial Note: As of January 1, 2003, the U.S. State Department's Treaties in Force listed 189 parties to the NNT, including Iran, Libya and North Korea.] Many of Pakistan's 150 million people look upon European-trained Dr. Khan as a national hero. He directed a program that, by 1998, had enabled Pakistan to become a nuclear power. Citation: The Associated Press (online), Islamabad, Thursday, February 5, 2004, at 02:57:56 GMT (byline of Matthew Pennington).