India-Pakistan Nuclear Dynamics
How two rival South Asian states developed nuclear weapons outside the NPT framework, and why their nuclear competition is among the world's most dangerous.
Two Nuclear Paths
India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, calling it a 'peaceful nuclear explosion,' a fig leaf that fooled no one. The test used plutonium produced in a Canadian-supplied reactor, demonstrating how civilian nuclear technology can be diverted for weapons purposes. India's nuclear program was driven by security concerns about China (which had tested in 1964) and a desire for great power status. However, India did not openly weaponize for another 24 years.
Pakistan's nuclear program was a direct response to India. After losing the 1971 war that led to the creation of Bangladesh, Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto reportedly said Pakistanis would 'eat grass' if necessary to build a bomb. A.Q. Khan, a Pakistani metallurgist who had worked at a Dutch uranium enrichment facility, brought centrifuge designs back to Pakistan and led its enrichment program. Pakistan is believed to have achieved weapons capability by the mid-1980s, though it did not test until 1998.
