Pak govt not involved in nuclear proliferation

"They know that nuclear proliferation has not been done by the government," Musharraf told ABC's "This Week" news show, in the interview taped Friday in Islamabad. "They know that there are some individuals who have done it."

Musharraf has been roiled in a controversy over top Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's involvement in leaking nuclear secrets.

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Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, last month publicly confessed that he had shared nuclear secrets with Iran, Libya and North Korea. Musharraf later pardoned Khan.

In a seperate Sunday interview with ABC, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he had seen no evidence that Musharraf was involved in leaking nuclear secrets, but he could not say if Pakistan's military was involved.

"I do not believe that there's any evidence or any suggestion that President Musharraf was involved," Rumsfeld said.

Asked whether high-level Pakistani military officials were involved, he said: "You can't say that I know that every person connected with the Pakistani military over some sustained period of time had no knowledge or participation whatsoever. That's silly. I couldn't do that."

The impact of Khan's leaks is unclear, the Pakistani leader said.

"People are, I think, over-assessing the physical damage of the proliferation that he has done," Musharraf said. "We have to be clear now, what was the impact?"