Islamabad: President Pervez Musharraf was forced to probe the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb A Q Khan after the US produced "incredible" evidence against the scientist and warned that Islamabad's failure to take action in the matter would "most certainly" jeopardise its relations with America and other important countries.

The countdown for action against Khan and his associates began when Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Assistant Secretary Christina Rocca met Musharraf at his Army House residence in Rawalpindi on October 6, 2003 and placed evidence against Khan, collected by US intelligence agencies by placing "trackers" on him while he was on a mission to Iraq to sell nuclear technology to Saddam Hussein in 1992, 'The News' reported today (Feb 8, 2004), quoting unnamed Pakistani officials.

"We were told that Pakistan's failure to take action would most certainly jeopardise ties of the country with the US and other important nations. Nuclear proliferation has taken place, either you as a country take the responsibility or let the world know if it was an act of some individuals," it quoted a Pakistani official as saying.

A team of three Pakistan officials told the newspaper that US provided "incredible evidence" collected by its intelligence services detailing almost all foreign travels of Khan, particularly to the UAE, Malaysia, Libya, Iran and North Korea in the previous few years.

Minute details of his meetings with active nuclear black marketeers were provided to Pakistan and documents were given to prove the sale of nuclear hardware and designs to many countries, they said.