Chagai-I

Chagai-I refers to the six underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan in May 1998. It was named Chagai-I as the tests were conducted in the Chagai District (Baluchistan province). These nuclear tests resulted in a variety of sanctions against both Pakistan and India by a number of major states. With testing these six nuclear devices, Pakistan thus became the 7th country in the world to successfully develop and test nuclear weapons.

Birth of Pakistan's atomic program

 Pakistan and weapons of mass destruction

The Pakistani atomic deterrent program was started in January 1972 after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came into the political power. The Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was an unforgettable war and lesson to the Pakistani political and military establishment. It underscored the need to have a strong and highly well-trained military with a comprehensive ability to defend itself from the enemy, notably the Indian Armed Forces. The legacy of the 1971 war has left deep scars in Pakistani civil society as well as the political and military misery.

The 1971 Winter war had played a crucial and groundbreaking role in the hearts of Pakistani scientists, with their determination and hard work, Pakistan had developed the nuclear capability in early 1980s. The nuclear weapons research program, at an early stage, was headed by world renowned scientist and Nobel Laureate in physics Dr. Abdus Salam. Dr. Abdus Salam, who as Science advisor to the Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, led the nuclear weapon research under his supervision and guidance. In 1972, Bhutto's friend Munir Ahmad Khan, an IAEA scientist and a close colleague of Abdus Salam, also joined the program and subsequently became the head of Pakistan's atomic weapons program with the support of Bhutto. The former Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who is widely reminded in the world as the "Father of Pakistan's Atomic Program", goaded Pakistan into kick-starting its indigenous program to develop atomic weapons by making Munir Ahmad Khan as the head of the atomic program. The PAEC chairman is often regarded as the "God-Father of Pakistan's nuclear program", Munir Ahmed Khan headed the program and supervised confidential programs for almost two decades. The 1974 Indian atomic test at the Pokhran in 1974 spurred the Government of Pakistan picked up its speed to developed atomic weapon programs under the three to five years.

In July 1976, Abdul Qadeer Khan who was then working as a senior nuclear scientist at the URENCO Group also joined the program, where Khan, along with renowned military engineer General Zahid Ali Akbar founded the then-Engineering Research Laboratories. The ERL led the successful enrichment of Uranium in a record time. After decades of covertly building and developing the atomic program and the related atomic devices. Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif, tested its six underground nuclear devices in Chagai Hills.

Preparation for Atomic Tests

Pakistan's nuclear explosion test in the hills of Chagai,.

Plans to conduct an atomic test started in 1976 when Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) research scientists frequently visiting the area to find a suitable location for an underground nuclear test, preferably a granite mountain. After a long survey, the PAEC scientists chose the granite mountain Koh Kambaran in the Ras Koh Hills range in the Chagai Division of Baluchistan in 1978. Its highest point rises to a height of 3,009 metres (sources vary). The then-martial law administrator of the province, General Rahimuddin Khan, spearheaded the construction of the potential test sites throughout the 1980s.

In March 2005, the former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto said Pakistan may have had an atomic weapon long before, and her father had told her from his prison cell that preparations for a nuclear test had been made in 1977, and he expected to have an atomic test of a nuclear device in August 1977. However, the plan was moved on to December 1977 and later it was delayed indefinitely. In an interview with Geo TV, Samar Mubarakmand of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, has said that the team of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission developed the design of atomic bomb in 1978 and had successfully conducted a cold test after developing the first atomic bomb in 1983.

On April 2010, Nawaz Sharif, at a public function to celebrate nuclear blasts, said the then-U.S President Bill Clinton offered a package of US$5 billion for not carrying out nuclear blasts and warned about imposition of ban otherwise. Nawaz said that he was in Kazakhstan in a visit to meet the President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, when India tested its nuclear device. The entire nation was united in favoure of nuclear blasts and Mushahid Hussain was the first person who advice that nuclear blasts should be carried out in reply of Indian nuclear explosions.

Atomic Devices and Test Yields

The PAEC carried out five underground nuclear tests at the Chagai test site at 3:16 p.m. (PST) on the afternoon of May 28, 1998. The total yield of the tests was reported to be 40 kilotons of TNT equivalent, with the largest device yielding 30–35 kilotons. Western seismologists estimated the yield of the largest device to be no greater than 12 kilotons, leading U.S. nuclear weapons expert David Albright to doubt Pakistani claims. Following the tests, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif addressed the nation via Pakistan's government channel PTV and congratulated the entire nation and days of celebration followed throughout Pakistan.

Pakistani scientists pose with Koh Kambaran in the background. The PAEC team that conducted the tests were the team leader Mubarakmand (right of the man in the blue beret) and Tariq Salija, Irfan Burney, and Tasneem M. Shah. The better known Abdul Qadeer Khan of KRL is left of the man in the blue beret (who may be General Zulfikar Ali, the military administrator of the System and Combat Engineering Division of the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers.

Development and test teams

Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC)

Ishfaq Ahmad, Chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC).

Samar Mubarakmand, Member (Technical), Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.

Anwar Ali, Directorate of Technical Equipment (DTE).

Hafeez Qureshi, Head of Directorate of Technical Development (DTD)

N.A. Javed, Director of Directorate of Quality Assurance (DQA).

Irfan Burney, Director of Directorate of Technical Procurement (DTP).

I.A. Bhatty, Director of Directorate of Industrial Liaison (DIL)

Tariq Salija, Director of the Radiation and Isotope Applications Division (RIAD).

Muhammad Jameel, Director of Directorate of Science and Engineering Services (DSES)

Muhammad Arshad, the Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL)

Abdul Qadeer Khan, Director General of Khan Research Laboratories (KRL).

M. Nasim Khan, Director of Material Science and Engineering Division (MSE).

S. Mansoor Ahmed, Director of Uranium Enrichment Technology Division (UET).

Fakhr Hashmi, Director of Molecular-Laser Enrichment Technology Division (MLET).

Javed Ashraf Mirza, Director of Control and Guidance Division (CGD).

Tasneem M. Shah, Director of Computational Fluid Dynamics Division (CFD).

Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers (PACE)

Lt. Gen. Zulfikar Ali Khan-Engineer-in-Chief of the System and Combat Engineering Division of the Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers

Reaction in Pakistan

The Directorate of Technical Development of PAEC which carried out the Chagai tests issued the following statement soon after the tests:

“ The mission has, on the one hand, boosted the morale of the Pakistani nation by giving it an honorable position in the nuclear world, while on the other hand it validated scientific theory, design and previous results from cold tests. This has more than justified the creation and establishment of DTD more than 20 years back.

Through these critical years of nuclear device development, the leadership contribution changed hands from Munir Ahmad Khan to Ishfaq Ahmad and finally to Mubarakmand.

These gifted scientists and engineers along with a highly-dedicated team worked logically and economically to design, produce and test an extremely rugged device for the nation which enable the Islamic Republic of Pakistan from strength to strength.

”

Global Reactions

Pakistan's tests were condemned by the international community. The United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1172 condemning the test and that of Pakistan's. Brazil declared that it "deplores" Pakistan's decision to carry out the tests. In an official statement on May 28, 1998, the French Foreign Ministry denounced Pakistan's five nuclear tests. French President Jacques Chirac implored Pakistan to abstain from further testing. Iran also criticised the tests, with a formal statement by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi expressing deep concern at Pakistani nuclear proliferation. Robin Cook, Britain's foreign secretary, expressed dismay at the tests. Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, deplored the tests saying that "they exacerbate tension in an already difficult relationship.

The United Nations Security Council condemned Pakistan's five nuclear tests. "The council strongly deplores the underground nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan despite international calls for restraint," said a statement from Kenya's Njugumu Moses Mahugu, president of the 15-member council.

At a news conference May 28, 1998, United States President Bill Clinton condemned Pakistan's nuclear tests saying, "I deplore the decision." He also promised to reprimand Islamabad with the same sanctions the United States has imposed on India." Clinton also signed off on economic sanctions against Pakistan that prohibited billions of dollars in loans from multilateral institutions.

NATO said that the tests were a "dangerous development" and also warned of sanctions.


See also
General Muhammad Zia ul Haq

(source:wikipedia)