Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Mr Gohar Ayub Khan, reacted to the two additional Indian nuclear tests yesterday by declaring that the Indian government had "gone berserk".
Mr Khan made the comments after the government, defence chiefs and the architect of Pakistan's nuclear programme met behind closed doors to consider Islamabad's response to India's series of test blasts.
President Clinton telephoned the Prime Minister, Mr Nawaz Sharif, from Berlin after signing documents enacting sanctions against New Delhi to punish it for defying world opinion with its first two blasts on Monday. Mr Khan said India's actions had been encouraged by a weak Western response to India's weapons programme.
Western diplomats speculated that India might now announce that it was ready to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) to head off condemnation gathering over New Delhi's Hindu nationalist leadership.
But it was not clear whether Pakistan would be satisfied with world condemnation of India and of US sanctions to claim the moral high ground in the escalating tension in South Asia.
India's latest blasts in the western desert state of Rajasthan were announced about an hour after the cabinet's defence committee met to weigh the national clamour for a Pakistani test against likely world condemnation. The gathering also included Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Dr Qadeer Khan, who is on record as saying he is only awaiting the order to explode Pakistan's first nuclear device.
Dr Khan has been feted as a national hero since Pakistan last month successfully test-fired his Ghauri medium-range missile, which the government said could hit any Indian target.
In London, Jane's defence group said it believes Pakistan will carry out a nuclear test of its own before the end of June.