Islamabad, Feb. 8 (Reuters): US secretary of state Colin Powell is expected to visit Pakistan and meet President Pervez Musharraf soon to discuss the nuclear proliferation probe, a government official said today.

Powell spoke to Musharraf yesterday by telephone about the sale of sensitive nuclear information by the country’s top scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, revered as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb and pardoned by the government for his actions. “During the conversation President Musharraf asked Powell to visit Pakistan and he said he would do so quite soon,” the official said.

The English-language daily Dawn said Powell would visit this month, but the official said dates had yet to be fixed for the visit. “Powell commended the Government of Pakistan’s actions and expressed satisfaction over the manner of these investigations,” the official said. “Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state and will continue to cooperate.”

Another local newspaper said Powell expressed President George W Bush’s concern about the role of Pakistani scientists in nuclear proliferation to Iran, Libya and North Korea and also urged Pakistan to share more information.

The News also said that in October, US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and assistant secretary of state Christina Rocca personally presented “incredible evidence” to Musharraf about the leaking of nuclear secrets by its scientists. “We were told that Pakistan’s failure to take action will most certainly jeopardise its ties with the US and other important nations of the world,” The News quoted an official as saying.

The evidence provided by the US included details of Khan’s trips to the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Libya, Iran and North Korea; minute details of his meetings with nuclear black marketers; documentary evidence of the sale of nuclear hardware and designs; and bank account details, the paper said.