India and Israel had secretly planned to hit Pakistan's nuclear facility in Kahuta near Islamabad in 1983-84, but had to back off when the CIA in 1984 tipped off President General Zia-ul Haq.
'The Asian Age' said this in its report published on Sunday from London, quoting details revealed by investigative journalists Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark in their new book, 'Deception: Pakistan, the United States and the Global Weapons Conspiracy'.
The authors also gave details of India's secret intelligence links with Israel at the time when officially the two countries did not have any diplomatic contacts.
"In February 1983, with the strike plan at an advanced stage, Indian military officials had travelled secretly to Israel, which had a common interest in eliminating (A Q) Khan, to buy electronic warfare equipment to neutralise Kahuta's air defences," the book said.
Indian put its plans on hold after Raja Ramanna, then Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre was warned by the then Chairman of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission Munir Ahmed Khan in Vienna in the autumn of 1983 that Islamabad would attack Trombay, if its facilities in Kahuta were attacked.
At this juncture, the book said, Israel suggested that they would carry out the raid on Kahuta, using the Indian Jamnagar base in Gujarat to launch its jets, and another IAF base in northern India to refuel.
"In March 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed off (on) the Israeli-led operation, bringing India, Pakistan and Israel to within a hair's breadth of a nuclear conflagration," the book said.
However, the authors said, India and Israel backed off from the plan after the CIA tipped off President Zia ul Haq, and the US State Department warned India that "the US will be responsive if India persists." The book further said Prime Minister Indira Gandhi then aborted the operation, despite protests from military planners in New Delhi and Jerusalem. The authors, quoting General K M Arif, who was at the time Vice Chief of Pakistan Army, as saying: " 'Our friends had let us know what the Israelis and Indians intended to do, and so we let them know how we would respond'. Both sides were harrying the other and were absolutely aware of the consequences of every move. In the end, it was India that blinked."
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