SLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) – Pakistan will join an international initiative aimed at keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

The initiative, however, only applies to civilian “facilities and activities,” the ministry said in a statement late Saturday. “Pakistan has declared that the global initiative does not cover Pakistan’s military nuclear facilities or activities.”

The program, known as the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, calls on states to improve accounting, control and physical protection of nuclear material and radioactive substances as well as the security of nuclear facilities.

It built on an existing “Proliferation Security Initiative,” an American-led group of dozens of nations working together to help seize illicit weapons as they are transported around the world.
MoIn 2004, the scientist considered to be the father of the Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program – Abdul Qadeer Khan – confessed that he had leaked nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya.

The ministry appeared keen to show it has moved on since the leaks.

“Pakistan’s participation in the global initiative is a manifestation of the fact that nuclear security and export control measures in Pakistan are at par with latest international standards,” the ministry’s statement said.

President General Musharraf – a close ally in the American anti-terrorism campaign – has pardoned Khan for spreading nuclear technology, citing his contribution in making Pakistan a nuclear weapons state, the only country in the Muslim world to possess the capability.

Khan lives under tight security – and virtual arrest – at his home in an upscale residential neighborhood of Islamabad. The government says the measures are for his security.

Pakistan carried out its first nuclear test in May 1998 after those by rival neighbor India earlier the same month.

Pakistan has been invited to the next meeting of the nuclear initiative, in Kazakhstan on June 11-12, the statement said.