Heikal's article in the Arabic-language daily does not identify the three Arab parties, but, suggests that a lurking fear of the Israeli bomb made the idea of an Islamic bomb attractive to them. But in Heikal's view removal of the then premier, Bhutto, from power in 1977 and his subsequent execution indicated that the Arab donors to the Pakistani bomb now wanted to hide their commitment to the so-called Islamic bomb. In other words, these un-named contributors to the Pakistani nuclear project wanted Bhutto to go, and with him, the secret of their commitment to the bomb.

But the Arab connections with the Pakistani bomb did not end here: During the Afghan war in the 1980s,when Gen Ziaul Haq ruled Pakistan, about 400 million dollars were transferred to the Pakistani nuclear programme from the money allocated by some Arabs for ousting the soviets from Afghanistan.

Then CIA chairman William Gates, who remonstrated about it with the Pakistani government, was pacified by the reply that it was a Jehad against communism.

Those who support the Pakistani case, after the May nuclear tests, say that Pakistan is subjected to international sanctions because of the Islamic bomb and that these sanctions will affect Pakistan more than they will to India. Hence the need for Arab assistance for Pakistan.

Pakistan, too, has tried to create an impression that its nuclear project is linked to the Arab-Israel conflict. To give another dimension to this impression Pakistan has also made vague suggestions of an Israel-India linkup in the nuclear strategy. Bhutto's confidant Maulana Kauser Niazi was the first Pakistani who revealed in his book Aur line cut gai in 1987 that Bhutto hadpersuaded some Arab countries to fund Pakistan's nuclear programme during early 1970s.