"Pakistan is running full speed to develop tactical nukes in their continuing hostility with India," the former secretary of state told a close door fundraiser in Virginia in February, The New York Times reported, citing 50-minute audio audio being hacked from the Democratic Party's computers.
"But we live in fear that they're going to have a coup, that jihadists are going to take over the government, they're going to get access to nuclear weapons, and you'll have suicide nuclear bombers. So, this could not be a more threatening scenario," the daily quoted Clinton as saying in the audio that appeared on The Washington Free Beacon website.
"This is one of the most dangerous developments imaginable," Clinton said.
Such remarks from the former secretary of state gains significance in view of an interview of Pakistani Defence Minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif to the local TV channel in which he threatened to unleash nukes against India.
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"If our safety is threatened, we will annihilate them (India)," Asif had said.
The United States appears to have taken a strong note of Asif's recent statements on use of nuclear weapons.
Earlier, Defence Secretary Ashton Carter had said while India has generally shown responsible behaviour with nuclear technology, China conducts itself professionally, nuclear weapons in Pakistan are entangled in history of tensions.
Meanwhile, in an opinion 'Consequences of Pakistani Terrorism: Raids signal that India won't tolerate more attacks in Kashmir', The Wall Street Journal warned that Pakistan increasingly risks becoming a "pariah state" if it continues with policies.
It said if Pakistan wants to prevent an escalation of violence it needs to shut down the terror groups it continues to support. "That should start with Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba, two major jihadist groups that operate openly in Pakistan and are prime suspects in these attacks," it said.
The Journal noted that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consistently offered closer economic and diplomatic ties to Pakistan as long as it stops supporting terrorism.
Pakistan, it argued, needs a new vision centered on improving the lives of its people.