Islamabad, Mar. 30: Pakistan's incarcerated nuclear scientist Dr. A Q Khan has requested the government to end his solitary confinement by allowing his friends to meet him.

The Nation quoted sources as saying that the request to the government was made through his doctors on Saturday.

According to Khan's wife, Henny, he is suffering from chronic depression and has requested the government to release him at least from the torture of loneliness and allow his friends to pay regular visits to him.

"His doctors claim that his physical ailments are aggravating due to mental distress and the same is the cause behind his unmanageable blood pressure," sources revealed.

Most of Dr. Khan's friends have to wait for four to six weeks before meeting him.

Dr Khan, who will turn 72 on Tuesday, has been under house arrest for the past five years. (ANI)