PAKISTAN & NUCLEAR POWER

Pakistan had begun focusing on nuclear weapons in January 1972 just one month after the loss
of East Pakistan. That year it opened the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP).

Pakistan was concerned about India’s development of nuclear weapons and India’s superiority
in conventional forces. PM ZA Bhutto felt strongly that the nuclear programme was needed to
ensure Pakistan’s survival.
This is one of the reasons why Pakistan did not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In
1974, India carried out nuclear tests which caused concern in Pakistan and stepped up its own
developed program by founding the engineering research laboratories in Kahuta near
Islamabad. Hence Pakistan joined the nuclear race at a belated stage and only when the
security environment had become acutely adverse in the wake of Indian explosion in 1974.

It is believed that scientists in Pakistan had produced their own nuclear bomb by the beginning
of 1985 but no official announcement was made until 1998.

However in 1987, AQ Khan father of Pakistan’s nuclear program told a reporter ‘They told us
Pakistan could never produce the bomb and they doubted my capabilities but they now know
we have it’. Khan later denied saying Pakistan had a nuclear bomb and said he was tricked by
the reporter into saying these comments. This was perhaps because USA had said that it would
not provide aid if Pakistan is developing these nuclear weapons.

The 1990s began with abrupt deterioration of Indo- Pak relations which had to some extent
improved with the return of democracy in Pakistan in 1988.
The then PM Benazir Bhutto and her Indian counterpart Rajiv Gandhi concluded not to attack
each other’s nuclear installments. The December 1988 Agreement on the prohibition of attack
against the Nuclear Installations and Facilities was followed by a high level India- Pakistan talks
on the withdrawal of troops from Siachen.

However the warmth shown during the 1988 degenerated into bitter antagonism in early 1990
as the Vale of Kashmir erupted into a violent armed struggle against India’s oppressive rule.
Pakistan had to extend all possible assistance to the uprising in Kashmir. India perceived
Pakistan’s support to the uprising in Kashmir as a plan to capture Jammu and Kashmir. In
January 1990 India reinforced its army by sending 150,000 troops to the state.

The events of January 1990 escalated tensions between India and Pakistan. Both the countries
made threatening military moves with nuclear overtones. Pakistan’s government being aware
of the Indian nuclear potential asked its scientists to assemble a nuclear weapon.

Tension to some extent was eased between the two countries. Both of them realized the need
of negotiations between military commanders. They also agreed to hold talks on a wide range
of outstanding issues. An agreement was concluded in April 1991 on advance military exercises
maneuvers and troop movement and a deal on prevention of airspace violations.
Pakistan’s government was now convinced of the deterrent impact of nuclear weapons as a
check against India’s proclivity for aggression against it.

Pakistan publicly acknowledged that it had the components and the know-how to assemble at
least one nuclear device.

India demanded a greater American pressure on Pakistan and asked for a stricter Indian
counter-measures after Pakistan’s admission on possessing nuclear potential.

India therefore tested its short range Prithvi missile in August 1992. The incident of destruction
of Babri Masjid on December 6th 1992 and India’s unwillingness to hold negotiations on nuclear
development further aggravated the relations. India Pakistan relations remain frozen in an
atmosphere of hostility and lack of trust.

Indian and Pakistani Foreign Secretaries met in January 1994 and agreed to explain proposals
on key issues of concern but Pakistan’s insistence on the inclusion of Kashmir as the core
agenda for talks thwarted the normalization process.

India Pakistan relations took an ugly turn on the resumption of economic and military
assistance by the Clinton administration in the mid 1990s.

India and Pakistan resumed talks in 1997 after an interval of 4 years. The Indian government
under PM IK Gujral sought to improve relations with the close neighbors under Gujral Doctrine.
Similarly the return of Nawaz Sharif to power in 1997 opened doors of dialogue and
cooperation with India.
In May 1998, India shocked the world by testing 5 nuclear devices. Just a few weeks later,
Pakistan detonated its own nuclear devices in the Raskoh Hills.

The military advantage that India had sought to obtain by flexing its nuclear muscle was lost
when Pakistan retaliated in kind. Pakistan took a tougher stand on Kashmir than before as it too
could negotiate from a position of strength.

There was considerable concern in the world that the two rivals now both had nuclear
capabilities. The Secretary General of the UN asked both India and Pakistan to sign the
Comprehensive Test Treaty Ban. India refused so Pakistan did not sign either.

However in the late 1998, both countries announced that they were stopping nuclear testing.