WASHINGTON, Feb 12: US investigators have charged a Pakistani businessman held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with urging Al Qaeda operatives to acquire nuclear weapons for use against American troops.

Documents filed in a US district court here claim that Saifullah Paracha, 57, told Al Qaeda operatives he knew where to get nuclear weapons.

Mr Paracha's wife, Farhat Paracha, told a news conference in Karachi on Friday that although her husband had met Osama bin Laden twice, he had nothing to do with terrorism.

Also on Friday, Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, Jehangir Karamat, said there was no evidence that Pakistani scientists had sold nuclear technology to Al Qaeda or any other militant group.

But the documents filed in the Washington court alleged that Mr Paracha also participated in a plot to smuggle explosives into the US and helped Al Qaeda hide large amounts of money.

Mr Paracha, who had an import business in New York, is a permanent US resident who has been held for 19 months without charges.