pak nukes (fwd)

[Rakesh Bhandari]

> 
>                   Pakistan Detonates Nuclear Devices
> 
>                   By Kathy Gannon                    
> [ ]               Associated Press Writer
>                   Thursday, May 28, 1998; 10:26 a.m. EDT                           
>        
>        :ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) --        
>        Pakistan answered India's nuclear tests with five
>        underground detonations of its own today and said it
>        was capping a long-range missile with nuclear warheads,
>        escalating the arms race between the rival nations.
>        
>        ``Today, we have settled the score with India,''
>        Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said, chastising
>        the international community for failing to punish
>        Pakistan's long-time rival India after it carried out
>        five nuclear tests two weeks ago.
> 
>        ``India is an expansionist power,'' he said in a
>          nationwide address. ``The world should have sanctioned
>          India fully ... but they didn't.''
>        
>        Today's action was sure to bring economic sanctions by
>        the United States and other nations, which had urged
>        Pakistan to refrain from retaliating with tests of its
>        own.
>        
>        The news set off street celebrations in Islamabad, with
>        joyful Pakistanis shooting their guns into the air. In
>        New Delhi, the Indian capital, it sent parliament into
>        uproar, with opposition lawmakers leaping from their
>        seats to blame the government for setting off a nuclear
>        arms race on the subcontinent.
>        
>        Pakistan had been under enormous pressure from across
>        the political spectrum to explode a nuclear device
>        since the Indian tests. Sharif said today that India
>        had violently upset the regional balance of power, so
>        Pakistan matched India exactly by setting off its own
>        five tests.
>        
> 	 Pakistan's security worries -- and its earlier warnings
>        that India was preparing to test a nuclear device --
>        had been ignored by the world, he said.
>        
>        ``Today the flames of the nuclear fire are all over,''
>         Sharif said. ``I am thankful to God that ... we have
>         jumped into these flames ... with courage.''
>        
>        Sharif said Pakistan had been tremendously patient with
>        India, and could have set off the underground tests 20
>        years ago if it had chosen to do so.
> 
>        He also thanked ally China -- another of India's rivals
>     -- for its help but did not specify what that entailed.
>       China is believed to have aided Pakistan's nuclear
>        program.
> 
>        The strongest test today registered a preliminary
>        magnitude of 4.9, according to the U.S. National
>        Earthquake Information Center.
> 
>        In announcing the explosions, Pakistan said it was
>        giving nuclear muscle to the Ghauri missile, which it
>       tested April 6. The missile has a range of 900 miles,
>        making it capable of striking most parts of India.
>
>       ``The long-range Ghauri missile is already being capped
>        with the nuclear warheads to give a befitting reply to
>       any misadventure by the enemy,'' an official statement
>       said.
> 
>         Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the
>         report ``vindicated'' India's decision to test nuclear
>         devices. Vajpayee had argued that India needed a
>         nuclear deterrent because Pakistan had a secret weapons
>         program.
> 
>          In Washington, President Clinton expressed
>          disappointment about Pakistan's nuclear tests and
>          concern over the prospect of escalating tensions in
>          South Asia. The United States will impose tough
>          economic sanctions against Pakistan, matching the
>         punishment levied on India, the White House said.
> 
>         The underground tests were detonated in the Chagai
>         region of Pakistan's desolate southwestern Baluchistan
>         province, barely 30 miles from the border with Iran and
>         Afghanistan.
> 
>          It wasn't immediately known what kind of devices
>          Pakistan tested, but the statement credited scientist
>          Abdul Qadeer Khan, the architect of Pakistan's bomb.
> 
>          Pakistan and India have fought three wars since 1947
>          and came dangerously close to a fourth, possibly
>          nuclear, confrontation in 1990 over the disputed state
>          of Kashmir.
> 
>          India has said it planned no more tests, so an
>          immediate response in the form of more Indian
>         explosions was unlikely. But both India and Pakistan
>           could work to improve their missiles' ability to
>           deliver nuclear weapons and perfect those weapons with
>          computer modeling.
> 
>          Earlier today, Pakistan had accused India of planning
>          to attack its nuclear installations to prevent a test.
>          India called the accusation false and ``vicious
>          propaganda.''
> 
>          India's nuclear tests caught U.S. intelligence by
>          surprise. Since then India has been slapped with
>          economic sanctions, most recently this week when the
>          World Bank indefinitely postponed a decision on whether
>          to extend more than $800 million in loans.
> 
>          Pakistan is much more dependent on international
>          assistance and loans than India, and sanctions are
>          bound to seriously hurt its already struggling economy.
>          Many economists fear this country of 140 million people
>          may be forced to default on its $800 million debt
>          payment due at the end of June.
> 
>          Pakistanis were both proud of their government's
>          accomplishment and wary of the hardship that sanctions
>          may bring.
> 
>          ``I am very glad we have done it,'' said Raisuddin, 33,
>           a butcher from the southern city of Karachi. ``It was
>          the right thing to do. If we hadn't, then India would
>           have invaded Pakistan.''
> 
>            But Mohammed Hayat Khan, a cook, said Pakistan could
>            not afford the test.
> 
>            ``We are a poor country. Now inflation will go up,'' he
>            said. ``We should have been more patient and it is the
>            poor people who will suffer now.''
> 
>           Roughly 25 percent of Pakistan's $13 billion budget
>           goes toward defense spending. India and Pakistan are
>           among the world's leading purchasers of military
>           equipment.
> 
>           Pakistan has been living with U.S. sanctions since 1990
>           when Washington cut all military and humanitarian aid
>           because it believed Islamabad had a nuclear bomb. At
>           the time, Pakistan was one of the largest recipients of
>           U.S. aid.
> 
>            Copyright 1998 The Associated Press
>