PAKISTAN: Indian tests pile pressure on Sharif

29 May 1998
NEWS

World leaders have urged the government not to respond to India's nuclear tests with one of its own, but Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is under immense pressure at home to give the go-ahead for proving the country's nuclear capability.

Following warnings of sanctions from the US and Japan, Sharif said on 19 May: 'As far as sanctions are concerned, we are already used to them. We are not going to be afraid of them. In this connection, all the justice- seeking nations should be with us. Our friends are already with us and the entire nation is strongly united.'

Sharif said Pakistan would not trade off its security interests for any monetary assistance. 'We are not looking for monetary gains. Pakistan could have given a tit-for-tat response to the series of India's nuclear tests. But we want to act in a responsible manner and don't want to blindly follow the Indian path,' he said.

'Now we have legitimate security concerns and the international community needs to realise these concerns. Our response will be very well-calculated. The people of Pakistan are running out of patience and pressure is mounting on me,' added Sharif.

Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was quick to take advantage of Sharif's plight. She has urged him to resign for failing to respond to five Indian nuclear tests in a similar manner. 'Nawaz Sharif should resign because the government has failed to safeguard the security of Pakistan by not responding to the Indian nuclear tests,' she said.

US President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke to Sharif by telephone on 18 May for over 30 minutes urging him not to conduct a nuclear test. 'It was a good conversation in which the president and prime minister set out the case for not testing a nuclear device,' White House spokesman Mike McCurry said after the telephone call. 'Sharif made no commitments. He did explain the difficult situation he faces as he wrestles with the issue,' McCurry added.

In Pakistan, religious parties continued to condemn the Sharif government for not detonating a nuclear device. Cricketer turned politician Imran Khan, now the chief of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (Pakistan Justice Party) led a procession demanding that the government should give an immediate befitting reply to India's nuclear tests. Khan urged the government to resist all international pressures and carry out a nuclear test without delay.

However, president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour urged Sharif not to push the country into economic doom by conducting a nuclear test at this stage. 'Pakistan should take advantage of the follies committed by India and try to get its loans and other liabilities written- off by the donor countries,' he said.

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