IPPNW-Students Pakistan - The Indian and Pakistani Nuclear Tests
Report prepared by Dr. Ali Raza Khan Afridi, Project Coordinator PAKPPNW, member IFMSA PAKISTAN
In September 1996 international nuclear arms control efforts received a serious blow. India categorically refused to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear weapons testing, and threatened not to sign any future arms control agreements. India ostensibly refused to sign the test ban for the same reason it had refused to sign the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which prohibits all but the five declared nuclear weapons states (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States) from possessing nuclear weapons. India's concern is that neither treaty works toward eliminating those countries' arsenals; rather, both are designed to stop other countries from acquiring nuclear weapons. In response to India's position, Pakistan has also refused to sign these treaties and will probably follow India's lead in rejecting future arms control agreements.
The 1998 nuclear tests in India and Pakistan were carried out despite:
Pakistani claims concerning the number and yields of their underground tests cannot be independently confirmed by seismic means, and it has been suggested by Indian sources that as few as two weapons were actually detonated, each with yields considerably lower than claimed by Pakistan. However, seismic data showed at least two and possibly a third, much smaller, test in the initial round of tests at the Ras Koh range. The single test on 30 May provided a clear seismic signal.
Kashmir is today the most dangerous dispute anywhere around the world, because the protagonists have nuclear weapons in their hands and they have a history of conflicts.
Because in the case of an all out war between the two countries, if it comes to the survival of any one of the two, they will use any means they have to defend their own national integrity and sovereignty...so that the danger of a nuclear conflict in this area cannot be ruled out, unless this problem is resolved.
Report prepared by Dr. Ali Raza Khan Afridi, Project Coordinator PAKPPNW, member IFMSA PAKISTAN
In September 1996 international nuclear arms control efforts received a serious blow. India categorically refused to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear weapons testing, and threatened not to sign any future arms control agreements. India ostensibly refused to sign the test ban for the same reason it had refused to sign the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which prohibits all but the five declared nuclear weapons states (Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States) from possessing nuclear weapons. India's concern is that neither treaty works toward eliminating those countries' arsenals; rather, both are designed to stop other countries from acquiring nuclear weapons. In response to India's position, Pakistan has also refused to sign these treaties and will probably follow India's lead in rejecting future arms control agreements.
The 1998 nuclear tests in India and Pakistan were carried out despite:
- The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
- The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
- Diplomacy at the highest level.
- The threat of withdrawing economic aid.
Pakistani claims concerning the number and yields of their underground tests cannot be independently confirmed by seismic means, and it has been suggested by Indian sources that as few as two weapons were actually detonated, each with yields considerably lower than claimed by Pakistan. However, seismic data showed at least two and possibly a third, much smaller, test in the initial round of tests at the Ras Koh range. The single test on 30 May provided a clear seismic signal.
Kashmir is today the most dangerous dispute anywhere around the world, because the protagonists have nuclear weapons in their hands and they have a history of conflicts.
Because in the case of an all out war between the two countries, if it comes to the survival of any one of the two, they will use any means they have to defend their own national integrity and sovereignty...so that the danger of a nuclear conflict in this area cannot be ruled out, unless this problem is resolved.
