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India and Pakistan swap nuclear site lists

Pak, India exchange nuclear sites lists The Nation By: Kaswar Klasra | Published: January 02, 2010 ISLAMABAD – Pakistan and India exchanged the lists of their nuclear installations on Friday for the 19th time. The list exchange was done under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities, inked December 31, 1988. The deal came into effect January 27, 1991, and the first exchange took place January 1, 1992.

Both of the sides exchanged the documents simultaneously at Islamabad and New Delhi. When contacted, the Foreign Office confirmed this and said a list regarding nuclear installations was handed over to the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad in the afternoon. Also, the Indian authorities did the same in New Delhi as the Pakistan High Commission received similar documents on Friday.The subcontinent’s New Year tradition played out again as India and Pakistan exchanged lists of nuclear installations on Friday.

Both countries are de facto nuclear-weapon powers. India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, followed by five more in 1998. Pakistan conducted six nuclear tests in 1998, two weeks after the Indian tests.Neither India nor Pakistan are signatories to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). India considers the NPT discriminatory, while Pakistan has indicated that it won’t join the international agreement till its neighbour does so. Similarly, India and Pakistan have also not signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.The nuclear lists’ pact is one of the best confidence-building measures between the two countries, which has continued even when relations worsened.

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January 1, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | India, Pakistan, safety | antinuclear, nuclear