Clinton, Blair Urge Pakistan to Shun Test

WASHINGTON — In a joint half-hour telephone conversation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair appealed Monday for Pakistan to resist growing domestic pressure to detonate a nuclear device.

Clinton, underscoring the pressure on his own administration to prevent a new nuclear arms race, told reporters: “We’ve got to find a way out of this.”

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry described the three-way conversation as a “good exchange” in which the two Western leaders “set out the case for not testing a nuclear device.”

Clinton and Blair tried to convince Sharif that Pakistan could do more to enhance its security by showing restraint than by testing.

“They described the isolation that India faces in the international community as a result of having launched this test [by conducting a series of tests last week] and suggested that Pakistan might emerge stronger and with an even better security standing if it elected to go the no-testing route,” McCurry told reporters in London, where Clinton has been conferring with world leaders.

But in a reflection of the deep frustration felt by many Pakistanis, Sharif was said to have lashed out at the international community during the call for its “insensitivity” to an issue that endangers his country’s future.

“Under these circumstances, for the G-8 [industrialized countries] to ask Pakistan to exercise restraint was misdirected, as it demonstrated insensitivity to a critical situation that threatened our very existence,” he said in a statement released after the conversation.

Sharif made no commitments during his talk with Clinton and Blair, or during a conversation with an envoy sent by the Japanese prime minister. The Pakistani leader said he would “not act in haste” but stressed that his actions “would be in consonance with the best interests of Pakistan’s sovereignty and integrity,” according to the statement out of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Senior U.S. officials said that Pakistan had not yet made a final decision on conducting a test, despite claims by members of Sharif’s government that it is only a matter of time before Pakistan detonates a nuclear weapon.

The United States hopes that Pakistan will at least wait several days, to give Congress time to consider the possibility of lifting a 1990 ban on military sales to Pakistan. The so-called Pressler Amendment has blocked delivery of 28 F-16 warplanes for which Islamabad paid more than $600 million.

The Pressler Amendment cut off aid and military sales because Pakistan was deemed to be working on nuclear weapons. Offering to revoke the amendment or to modify its terms would be the most tangible incentive the United States could offer Pakistan to abstain from nuclear testing.

After engaging in separate talks with Sharif, Japanese special envoy Seiichiro Noboru told a news conference that Japan is prepared to “intensify efforts for economic cooperation” if Pakistan decides to forgo nuclear testing. Japan, Pakistan’s largest source of foreign aid, has provided Islamabad a total of $6.5 billion in assistance.

The longer Pakistan delays, the more time the outside world will have to convince it of the many ramifications of conducting a test, U.S. officials are calculating.

Already, they say, Islamabad has begun to understand that it has been trapped politically by India’s detonation of five nuclear devices because holding back would be unpopular at home. At the same time, Pakistan is likely to pay a higher price economically than India for any decision it makes. The recognition of both factors is the best hope of eventually tipping the balance in favor of restraint.

Wright reported from Washington and Shogren from London.