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Netanyahu's cars may have scared Pak

Pakistan's fears last week that Israel and India were about to attack its nuclear facilities may have been triggered by an Israeli air force cargo plane carrying armoured Cadillacs to Uzbekistan where Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu was on a four-hour visit last week, Channel 2 television said today.

The report came after Pakistan said that its fears of an Israeli attack had prompted it to declare a full scale alert and conduct six nuclear tests last month in response to India's test explosions.

Pakistan, which claims that Israel assisted India in its nuclear tests, said its fears were triggered when an unidentified F-16 warplane violated its airspace.

Israel, which has close ties with India, has denied aiding India's nuclear programme or any involvement in a planned attack on Pakistan.

But reports in the Israeli media today said that India's top nuclear scientist A P J Abdul Kalam visited Israel several times in 1996 and 1997 along with senior colleagues, and that senior Israeli scientists also travelled to India, as part of a reciprocal programme.

The Yediot Aharonot daily said Kalam had not been given access to Israeli nuclear technology, but that he had been shown Israel's missile and satellite projects.

UNI

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