Clinton gave money for no nuke tests: Sharif

Lahore, May 28: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Friday, May 28 that Former US President Bill Clinton offered Pakistan a $5 billion package to restrain itself from conducting tit—for—tat nuclear tests in response to India"s in 1998 but the offer was rejected at the cost of already planned nuclear tests.

“I told him (Clinton) that we are not among those people who are sold for a few dollars, not now and in future too. Thus we successfully carried out our nuclear tests,"he said.

He also claimed that the entire nation was united in favor of the nuclear tests and Mushahid Hussain, who was the information minister at the time, “was the first person who advised me" that they should be conducted in reply to those by India.

“It was the democratic government that took the bold decision of conducting nuclear tests and if there was a dictator, he would have never gone for the tests," Mr sharif said.

With this he pointed out towards former president Pervez Musharraf, who removed Mr. Sharif in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled for nine years.

He firmly said that the nuclear tests had made this country"s defense “unbeatable and Pakistan became the first nuclear power of the Islamic world", .

OneIndia