Pakistan 'was preparing for nuclear strike'

Pakistan was preparing its nuclear weapons for possible use during a 1999 border conflict with India, it is reported.

The Washington Post quoted a new article by former president Bill Clinton's chief adviser on South Asia, Bruce Riedel.

Riedel said US intelligence found "disturbing evidence the Pakistanis were preparing their nuclear arsenals for possible deployment".

The information came as India was fighting back a Pakistani-backed incursion in disputed Kashmir.

Riedel said that at a tense meeting in Washington on July 4, Clinton confronted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with the intelligence.

He asked him whether he was aware his military was preparing intermediate range missiles with nuclear warheads.

Riedel said Sharif was "taken aback". Sharif was overthrown three months later by his military chief, General Pervez Musharraf, who is now a close US ally in the war on terror.