It was on July 31, 1976 that Pakistan embarked upon a nuclear project during Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s regime. The Pakistani nuclear project was in direct reaction to India’s program. (India exploded a nuclear device on May 18, 1974.) After this Pakistan became desperate to acquire nuclear technology. Prime Minister Bhutto believed in total wars. It is reported that he said, “all wars of our age have become total wars and it will have to be assumed that a war waged against Pakistan is capable of becoming a total war. It would be dangerous to plan for less and our plan should, therefore, include the nuclear deterrent.”
Bhutto strongly believed that India is not going to concede the nuclear monopoly to anybody. If Pakistan did not respond in kind then there are chances that India would blackmail Pakistan. He believed that before we reach such crisis level, we must acquire this technology. After detonation of Indian nuclear device, Bhutto said, “If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leaves, we go hungry. But we will get one of our own . We have no alternative.”
Very soon he established the ‘Engineering Research Laboratories,’ and an autonomous organization with the goal to establish a Uranium Enrichment Plant and provide Pakistan with nuclear capability. The location of this project was Kahuta, near Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. This project is popularly known as Kahuta Project. Within six years Pakistan became a country with the nuclear capabilities. After Bhutto, Gen. Zia-ul-Haq continued the Bhutto’s nuclear policies.
The Pakistani government contended that India’s nuclear project was supported by Western countries as well as the former Soviet Union. Indian nuclear policies violated the ‘Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’ of 1970. India’s nuclear project was considered by the super powers as peaceful. Pakistan believed that there is no such thing as a peaceful nuclear program. India produced plutonium in a Canadian built reactor. The USA provided heavy water to the nuclear reactor. The American government started building pressure on Pakistan to quit the nuclear program. Under the US pressure French refused to supply nuclear reactor to Pakistan. Pakistani government realized that under the current diplomatic environment they could not realize their nuclear dream.
Ultimately, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission gave the responsibility to Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan to develop indigenous technology of ultracentrifuge.
Pakistan ultimately succeeded in her goals. One reason for this success was a tight secrecy. The West labeled Pakistani Nuclear Program as “Islamic Bomb” and considered it a threat to the Western global strategic interests. Israel was also worried about the Pakistani nuclear program and there was some intelligence information that Israel in collaboration with India was contemplating an air strike against the nuclear installation of Pakistan in Kahuta.
There is strong public support behind Pakistani nuclear program. Pakistani people believe that the West has double standards regarding nuclear proliferation. The West tolerates the nuclearization of Israel while they are against any nuclear program in any Muslim country. Pakistan as well as India both refused to sign the Compressive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
Pakistan, as well as India, by not signing the CTBT, are asserting their political independence at the same time nuclearization of both countries would contribute to the arm race in the South Asia. Both India and Pakistan are arch enemies and their nuclear programs will have serious consequences for world peace. I also believe that nuclearization of Pakistan and India is inevitable. Very soon Iran will also be in the nuclear world. I believe that nuclear technology is 50 years old and its acquisition is not that difficult. If there is strong determination and necessary scientific expertise, then it could be acquired.
Re: NUCLEAR RACE IN SOUTH ASIA,......Who to Blame,...
I blame India....in fact India opened the doors for the third world countries to run for nuclear race.
It is a crime that the world communities will pay for in future.
In fact arms, especially the Nuclear weapons, are ornaments of the stronger and not the weaker.
Re: Another view, NUCLEAR RACE IN SOUTH ASIA,......Who to Blame,...
Nuclear Technology if used for beneficial purposes beats traditional technologies applied in those areas. For instance, if used to produce electricity, then it is the best and cheapest technique to do so. The thing that has surprised me for years is that neither Indian nor Pakistani governments have ever thought of using this technology for beneficial proposes.
It seems that an endless amount of money and resources were spent on this technology just to make some explosive experiments. I have seen some people who these days have strong thinking that America or some other Western countries built the labs in Pakistan and India, used cheap labor (including scientists and engineers) and resources, gave the research money (billions) as loans to the governments that we have to pay them back as well, tried their explosions in these countries, instead of doing it in their own territories and then started to roll back the laboratories and every thing from these countries in short steps.
If you follow all the events in a timeline you will agree to these people to some extent. I don’t believe in it. But then why the governments are not continuing the research programs to achieve benefits from the technology they have achieved after killing their poor people from hunger……..
However as to ban this technology, then either no country should have the right to have nuclear weapons or every country must have it.
Nuclear weapons are enough to defend but cannot help to be a super power. more than 200 million people in India sleep on roads, most of them with hungry stomach. It will never be a super power unless they use their own atomic weapon to finish these poor people.
As for the defense, we had to have nuclear weapons, but now this technology must be used in beneficial areas to ease the lives of people. For example nuclear energy must be produced to save the public from WAPDA, and research must be done to have trains running on nuclear energy to save people from Railway fares…
If it is not done, then our government have made the same mistake, Inians made.
[quote=“umer.ashraf”]
Nuclear weapons are enough to defend but cannot help to be a super power. more than 200 million people in India sleep on roads, most of them with hungry stomach. It will never be a super power unless they use their own atomic weapon to finish these poor people.
\QUOTE]
How did you come up with this figure, mind explaining.
Well
Some time back I was watching a documentary on India on BBC. This documentary was on the RED areas of India and the spread of AIDS, particularly in Mombay (Bombay). In the documentary they were reasoning the huge number of women involved in the activities. Then they started giving stats about the poverty, hunger,…i.e. the reasons. They told that in India about 20% people have no home (not proper home but no home) to live. In Bombay this ratio is much higher, I forgot the exact one but it was in the late 30s(%).
With a population of about 1,000 million, 20% means 200 million.
Again , not all these people sleep on roads. There are many areas in India where rich people still (even in this century) keep emloyee for just food, house and old cloathe.
Thus you can say that actual number of people living on street is much lower, but if these rich people need the place back…
I visited some forums and have just concluded that I am amongst just-born youth on this forum. Need support from experienced members like you to be well started..
Well my friend, i can very well tell you that this figure of 200 mil is completely wrong. People sleep on streets only in big cities like bombay where people come from different cities (leaving their homes) to fulfil their dreams. Its hard to find place to live in bombay so they sleep on streets during the night and work during the day. but they do have their houses in their own towns.
same story follows for every big city.
In small cities and villages everyone has a place to stay.
Again i am not saying there are no homeless ppl in india but it is not even remotely close to 200mil.
Peace is a term used these days by the countries who have power and they will not let anybody else to gain that much power to keep other countries under their rule and whatever.
I am not saying they are doing wrong, it is a sort of human and community instinct. If India or Pakistan were in place of US, for instance, then they must have also tried to keep all other countries potentially harmless for them, in this way or another.
Real peace in this World can only occur, if no one have deadly weapons or every one have them. It may help to quote the famous sentence: “…if Japan had atomic bomb in 40s, then America must not have used it on Japan…”, Similarly if Iraq and Afghanistan really had destructive weapons as Americans claim, or if American had no weapons, then America never had attacked on them.
Peace in this World with some countries having deadly weapons and others not having them, is just a BULL****. I am not a supporter of atomic weapons. Whether used on us or we use them on others, it is just a BAD thing. But it must be finished from this planet, not from some areas.
