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Pak refutes reports of nuclear test, tells US it is disinformation

Pakistan has assured the Clinton administration that it has not yet taken any final decision to test a nuclear device even as US intelligence agencies maintain that Islamabad is on the verge of undertaking such a step and that it may come any time.

The assurance was given to White House officials by Pakistan's ambassador to US, Riaz Khokhar, saying that no decision has been made to go ahead with a test.

In an interview to CNN yesterday, he denied that his country was on the verge of detonating a nuclear device after US intelligence reports indicated that such a test could happen as early as today if Islamabad gave the go-ahead.

He said Pakistan's foreign secretary had called reports of an imminent test ''disinformation'' and ''a false alarm.''

The United States is again expected to press Pakistan to forego a nuclear test when a high-level Pakistani delegation arrives in Washington later this week.

The Pakistani ambassador would not comment on reports yesterday that US intelligence officials have concluded that Pakistan has virtually completed preparations needed to test a nuclear device.

Meanwhile, the Washington Times, quoting a US intelligence official, says, ''They are making final preparations to test. It could happen at any time.''

The test preparations have been under constant photographic reconnaissance and electronic since India conducted a series of underground tests on May 11 and 13.

The test site where the blast is expected, perhaps within hours, is located in the Chagai hills, a remote region of the Baluchistan desert near the border with Iran.

Asked what signs had been spotted, one official would only say that ''there are indicators.'' Other intelligence sources said the information confirmed that a nuclear device had been placed in the underground shaft and that equipment used a monitor the blast was in place.

Another sign is that security in the region has been increased, and precautions are being taken that indicates the test could come soon.

US intelligence agencies have been watching Pakistan closely for signs of a test since the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the national reconnaissance office and other spy agencies were caught off-guard by India's nuclear test.

UNI

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