India, Pakistan exchange Lists of Nuke Installations
'Pakistan Times' Foreign Desk

NEW DELHI (India): India and Pakistan on Monday, exchanged lists of nuclear installations and facilities through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad.

This is covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between India and Pakistan, signed on December 31, 1988 and entered into force on 27 January 1991, said a news release by External Affairs Ministry.

Under the Agreement, the two countries, on first January of every calendar year are to inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered by the agreement.

The First such exchange of lists took place on first January 1992, while this is the sixteenth consecutive time that both countries have exchanged such a list.

Perspective

India and Pakistan, which conducted nuclear tests in 1998 to barge into the global nuclear club, Monday exchanged lists of nuclear installations under an agreement intended to prevent mutual attacks on these facilities.

This is the 16th time such lists have been exchanged under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack Against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between India and Pakistan.

The agreement, which was signed in 1988, came into effect in 1991.

'Under the agreement, the two countries, on first January of every calendar year, are to inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered by the agreement,' an official statement said.

The first such exchange of lists took place on Jan 1, 1992. The names and number of such installations are never disclosed.

India conducted its first underground nuclear test in 1974.