“I was the protocol officer when Kissinger came to
Pakistan and met Bhutto in Lahore. Kissinger came with a carrot and stick policy. The carrots were A-7 bombers, while the stick was not a direct threat, but since the US elections
were near and the Democrats were set to win they wanted a tougher non-proliferation approach and might have made Pakistan an example. Pakistan did face sanctions.”
–Gerald Feuerstein, Deputy Chief of the US
Mission in Islamabad, 1976.
Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State, visited Pakistan in August 1976. On August 10 in Lahore Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Kissinger met at the Governor House. Kissinger tried to dissuade him from acquiring the nuclear plant. Thus, decades before 1998, the nuclear program had started, and so had the sanctions. Bhutto had rejected Kissinger’s warning to disband Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Bhutto allayed the public’s anxiety about the accord while the fact was that he had nothing to disclose. This time it worked well for Bhutto’s election campaign.