Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in safe hands, Brown told

The safety of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal has been secretly discussed between Gordon Brown and President George Bush amid fears that the riots against President Pervez Musharraf could lead to anarchy.

The Prime Minister has been assured that the nuclear weapons held by Pakistan are not at risk. The United States defence and intelligence services are believed to have prepared a "contingency" plan for dealing with the weapons, although it is a closely guarded secret.

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But in talks with the President, Mr Brown has been assured that the military forces in Pakistan remain firmly in control and there is no present risk of the weapons falling into the hands of extremists.

"The military is the most functional part of the regime," said one senior government source. "No one is suggesting there is any particular concern." The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband said: "We have had no evidence of any threats or change in the security of the nuclear weapons that Pakistan has."

US officials also said there was no new intelligence to suggest Pakistan's tight controls on its nuclear facilities were in any danger of being compromised.

Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is under the operational control of the military's Strategic Plans Division, led by Lt-Gen Khalid Kidwai, an officer with close ties to American military officials.

Daniel Markey, a former State Department official who focused on US policy in south Asia, told the Los Angeles Times: "If we started to see things deteriorate, there would be an urgent and immediate effort to reach out to him. If there's a safe box within Pakistan's army, this is it."

Most experts believe that Pakistan has produced enough highly enriched uranium for about 50 nuclear weapons or warheads. After the 9/11 al-Qa'ida attacks on the US, Pakistan began redistributing its nuclear weapons components among half a dozen or more locations for added safety.

The shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said he "absolutely agreed" with Mr Miliband that strengthening democracy was the best way to guarantee security and stability. "We are concerned that the instability will affect the government of Pakistan's ability to control the volatile border areas with Afghanistan and about the risk that Taliban and al-Qa'ida elements there will seize the opportunity caused by instability in Islamabad to step up their cross border operations into Afghanistan," said Mr Hague.

"The future stability of Pakistan is not only of vital interest to the UK but is an important matter for the whole world because of Pakistan's central role in the fight against terror, its relation to events in Afghan-istan and its possession of nuclear weapons."