Do India and Israel have hush-hush nuclear ties? Will Pakistan sell its bomb technology to Islamic countries for big bucks? Will the Gulf nations bankroll Islamabad if the sanctions render it a basket case? The India-Israel nuclear kinship story was first floated in the Pakistani media and has since gathered momentum with some Arab publications taking note of it.

According to the original story in the Nation soon after the Indian tests, two of the five tests India conducted in Pokhran were conducted on behalf of Israel, which wanted to check out some of the sub-kiloton bombs specially meant for its battlefield theatre. Components and equipment for the proxy tests were flown into India two weeks before the tests by a Israeli C-130 transport plane, presumably after a deal hatched during areported trip to Israel some three months ago by India's so-called missileman Abdul Kalam.

The story was given some sheen when it was picked up and retold by Pakistani academic Dr Shireen Mazhari at a seminar and was later amplified by some Gulf newspapers. But last week, shortly before its own nuclear tests, Pakistan officially lent its voice to the theory of India and Israel being in cahoots.

According to a report in the Washington Times citing US officials, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Shamshad Ahmed notified the US Government and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last Wednesday that Israeli and Indian warplanes equipped with long-range refueling gear operating out of India were about to attack Pakistani nuclear facilities at dawn on Thursday.

Pakistan's Ambassador to the UN Ahmad Kamal also began calling television networks, including the CNN, NBC and ABC, about the anticipated air strike, the paper said. The Pakistani information came from its espionage agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI).

However, US officials scoffed at the stories and told the Nawaz Sharif Government that there were no Israeli aircraft in India. Asked about Pakistan's fears, even Deputy Secretary Strobe Talbott said it was "without foundation". In fact, US officials took the Pakistani bogey with such a hefty dose of scepticism that Talbott suggested it did not even deserve to come to his notice.

The general belief in Washington was Pakistan was whipping up hysteria about the impending attack to justify its own tests which were to follow a few hours later. As it turned out, the expected air strike was also the reason cited by Pakistan for the imposition of emergency after the nuclear tests.

Analysts say the India-Israel deal to knock out Pakistan's nuclear facilities is an old turkey resurrected to animate the Islamic world. The same story was flogged in 1983-84 when there were reports of discussions between Tel Aviv and New Delhi to have the Pakistani nuclear facilities at Kahuta knocked out by Israeli jetsprovided they were allowed to refuel in India (because they lacked the range).

This was soon after Israel conducted similar raids to demolish Iraq's nuclear facilities at Osirak. Two versions of the outcome offered then was a) Mrs Indira Gandhi backed off fearing a backlash from the Islamic world and b) the Israelis did not want to hold the can for the operations. The stories were never really authenticated and India officially denied the reports, but Pakistan's suspicions never really subsided.

"Those who knew did not talk and those who talked probably did not know," says Stephen P Cohen, a South Asia expert who was an advisor to the State Department.

But by raising the spectre again, analysts say Pakistan is also appealing for Islamic solidarity to face the impending sanctions. There is also the underlying sales pitch for the Islamic bomb.

Although US officials have been careful not to publicly comment on the so-called Islamic bomb or express fears about proliferation in the Islamic world, foreignpolicy veterans like former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Senator Daniel P Moynihan, have been more vocal about the possibility.