The paper quoting a US official said in another two years Islamabad would be able to adapt its nuclear war heads to handful of Ghauri missiles purchased from North Korea. ``Islamabad might also carry out missile test fire of Tarmuk, a 250-mile range missile, which could be capable of carrying a nuclear warhead,'' the paper said. Washington Times had reported yesterday quoting US officials that a Chinese freighter was carrying special metal and electronics which could enable pakistan to build several anti-tank missiles.

State Department spokesman James Foley, in response to Anti-tank missiles, said ``these missiles are of short-range defensive and conventional weapons and do not represent a proliferation threat.''

Shiv Mukherjee, Minister in the Indian Embassy for Information and Culture, told The Washington Times that the technologytransfer could be a cover for Pakistan's covert nuclear and missile procurement programme.``If it is true, then it is more of the same. China's assistance to Pakistan's nuclear and missile programme is very well documented,'' he said.

Pakistan's programme is based on clandestine purchasing and outright stealing from all over the world. The US officials agreed that the timing of the latest Chinese shipment of components for anti-tank weapons is particularly bad, the paper reported.