ISLAMABAD, 2 January 2004 — Pakistan and India have exchanged lists of their nuclear facilities, Foreign Office here said.
The lists were exchanged in line with a bilateral agreement to hand over such information annually on New Year’s Day.
The two countries swapped the information under an agreement signed in 1988 that prohibits attacks on each other’s nuclear installations, Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said. “Accordingly, the information on nuclear installations and facilities of both sides was exchanged today through diplomatic channels,” the spokesman said in a statement.
The agreement between the nuclear rivals was signed on Dec. 31, 1988, and came into force on Jan. 27, 1991. The first such exchange between India and Pakistan was held on Jan. 1, 1992. The agreement prohibits attacks on each other’s nuclear facilities in the event of a war.
India conducted nuclear tests in May 1998 and Pakistan in a tit-for-tat response detonated its own devices a few days later. The rivals have fought three wars, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir that is divided between them and claimed in full by both. After coming close to another war in 2002 India and Pakistan initiated a process of dialogue to resolve all their disputes including the Kashmir issue and have been engaged in a series of fence-mending moves since last year.
Last month the two sides held talks on ways of reducing the risk of nuclear war, but the talks proved inconclusive A draft agreement on advance warning of ballistic missile tests was one of the key topics of the talks between top Foreign Ministry officials.
Although the two countries normally inform each other when holding missile tests, no formal deal was signed. The two sides will meet again at a later date, officials said.
The lists of nuclear facilities were swapped simultaneously in New Delhi and Islamabad through diplomatic channels, Foreign Office said. An official of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad was called to the Foreign Office and was handed over the list. “In a similar practice, the list was handed over to an official of the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi.”
The two countries abided by the agreement to exchange the lists even at the height of tension some two years ago.
The list usually includes civilian nuclear power plants and gives the exact location of each.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz met with a peace coalition delegation comprised of Pakistani and Indian migrants from US, UK and Canada here yesterday. Speaking to the delegation, Shaukat said Pakistan lies on the brink of Western, Southern and Eastern Asia and is trying to play a peacemaker’s role in the region. This requires that the economic, defense and political systems in Pakistan be stable and effective.
