Pakistan Becomes Nuclear Power

Pakistan crossed the nuclear threshold to become a declared nuclear weapons state on 28 May 1998 after it detonated five nuclear devices in the Ras Koh Hills in Chagai, Balochistan.

This day is celebrated across the country as a national day ‘Youm-e-Takbir’, and is a milestone in the history of Pakistan.

Background
After BJP came into power in India after February 1998 elections, it upped the ante against Pakistan. Another turning point came in the history of the region as India decided to carry out second nuclear tests; first being in 1974. On 11 and 13 May 1998, India conducted 5 nuclear tests at Pokhran, Rajasthan near the Pakistan border and became a ‘nuclear weapons state’. This destabilized the balance of power in South Asia heavily in India’s favour.

Aftermath of Indian Explosions
The dust at Pokhran had yet to settle when India’s civil and military leadership started a tirade against Pakistan. India declaring to adopt a ‘pro-active’ policy on Kashmir asked Pakistan to realise the ‘new geo-political realities in South Asia’.

Owing to India’s long-time malicious designs, Pakistan’s civil and military leadership had been preparing to conduct nuclear tests and it was now possible to conduct test, on short notice. After India’s tests, Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif was in an untenable situation. Pakistan was in urgent need to demonstrate its own prowess in a similar manner.

Pakistan’s Tests Preparations
International powers tried to stop Pakistan and even the President Clinton telephoned Nawaz Sharif and ‘advised’ him ‘not to respond to an irresponsible act in kind’. But the decision had been made firmly. On 18 May 1998, Chairman PAEC, Dr Ishfaq Ahmed, who had cut short his foreign trip and had returned to Pakistan on 16 May, was summoned to the PM House where he was relayed the decision of the DCC. ‘Dhamaka kar dein’ (conduct the explosion) were the exact words used by the Premier.

On 19 May 1998, two teams of 140 PAEC scientists, engineers and technicians left for Chagai, Balochistan. The nuclear devices were flown in a completely knocked down (CKD) sub-assembly form on a Pakistan Air Force C-130 Hercules tactical transport aircraft from Rawalpindi to Chagai, escorted even within Pakistani airspace by four PAF F-16s armed with air-to-air missiles. The PAF F-16 escort pilots had standing orders to shoot down the aircraft if the C-130 is hijacked or is flown outside of Pakistani airspace.

Once in Chagai, the parts of the nuclear devices were placesd in 5 ‘zero rooms’ in the long tunnels at Ras Koh Hills. Dr Samar
Mubarakmand supervised the complete assembly of all five nuclear devices. Diagnostic cables were thereafter laid from the tunnel to the telemetry to connect all five devices with an observation post 10 km away. This whole process took 5 days.

The tunnel was sealed by the afternoon of May 26, 1998, and by the afternoon of 27 May 1998, the cement had completely dried out due to the excessive heat of the desert.

The date and time for Pakistan’s rendezvous with destiny was set for 3:00 p.m. on the afternoon of 28 May 1998.

Explosions
Then came the day for which Pakistanis have dreamt the most. In the pre-dawn hours of 28 May, 1998, Pakistan cut the communication links for all its seismic stations to the outside world. All military and strategic installations in Pakistan were put on alert, and the Pakistan Air Force F-16A and F-7MP air defense fighters were placed on strip alert – ready to begin their take-off roll at any moment.

Ten members of the team reached the Observation Post. The firing equipment was checked and prayers were offered. At 2:30 p.m., a Pakistan Army helicopter carrying the team of observers arrived at the site. Pak Army’s team headed by General Zulfikar Ali, Chief of the Combat Division was also with them.
Soon afterwards, the all-clear was given to conduct the test as the site had been fully evacuated.

Amongst the 20 men present, one young man, Muhammad Arshad, the Chief Scientific Officer, who had designed the triggering mechanism, was selected to push the button. He was asked to recite ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ (All praise be to Allah) and push the button. At exactly 3:16 p.m., the button was pushed and Muhammad Arshad stepped from obscurity into history.

As soon as the button was pushed, the control system was taken over by computer. The signal was passed through the airlink initiating six steps in the firing sequence while at the same time bypassing, one after the other, each of the security systems put in place to prevent accidental detonation. Each step was confirmed by the computer, switching on power supplies for each stage. On the last leg of the sequence, the high voltage power supply responsible for detonating the nuclear devices was activated. A radiation-hardened television camera with special lenses recorded the outer surface of the mountain.

As the firing sequence continued through its stages, 20 pairs of eyes were glued on the Chagai Mountain.

A short while after the button was pushed, the earth in and around the Ras Koh Hills trembled. The Observation Post vibrated as smoke and dust burst out through the five points where the nuclear devices were located. The mountain shook and changed colour. Its black granite rock turned white as de-oxidisation from the radioactive nuclear forces.

A huge cloud of beige dust then enveloped the mountain.

The total time this whole process took was only thirty seconds. This colour-change was the culmination of a journey which started over 20 years ago.
The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs would later describe it as “Pakistan’s finest hour”. Pakistan had become the world’s 7th nuclear power and the first nuclear weapons state in the Islamic World.

Two days later, Pakistan conducted its sixth nuclear test at Kharan, a flat desert valley 150 km to the south of the Ras Koh Hills.