(2 of 2)
Parallel to all this has been a steady drumfire of anti-Americanism in the government-controlled papers. Karachi's daily Dawn suggested that Ambassador McConaughy had advance knowledge of an Indian, plan "to invade Pakistan" since "the ambassador's wife and son left Pakistan two days before the attack." In fact, McConaughy has no son, and his wife was in Karachi when the fighting began. A reporter's phone call could have quickly ascertained what really happened: the McConaughys' daughter had left town—to attend school in Europe.
Never So Poor. Bhutto's people in the Foreign Ministry seem to be sponsoring a pinprick campaign to pester Americans. U.S. embassy mail has been held up repeatedly, and during last month's warfare embassy chauffeurs fetching officials from their homes late at night were frequently arrested and manhandled—which could only happen with the concurrence of the government.
Social contacts between American and Pakistani officials have all but ceased. "The climate is bad for it," one shamefaced Pakistani told a former American friend. In fact, U.S.-Pakistan relations have never been so poor at any time in the nation's 18-year history. Unless by some miracle a solution is found to satisfy Pakistan on the Kashmir problem, relations are hardly likely to improve. Ayub has told the U.N. to produce a satisfactory solution within three to five months—or else. Whether the hawks around him will give him even that much time is open to question. "Things are going to get a great deal worse," says one glum Washington observer. "I won't even add 'before they get better,' because I don't know if they will."