New Delhi, January 01: India and Pakistan exchanged lists of nuclear facilities on Friday as part of an accord that prohibits them from attacking each other’s nuclear installations, India’s External Affairs Ministry said. The nuclear-armed neighbors have routinely exchanged lists every Jan.
1 since 1992 under an agreement that was signed in 1988. They have fought three wars since their independence from Britain in 1947.
“India and Pakistan today exchanged, through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the lists of nuclear installations and facilities covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between India and Pakistan,” the ministry said in a statement. Both nations carried out nuclear weapons tests in the summer of 1998.
Two of their three wars have been over the Himalayan territory of Kashmir, which is divided between them but claimed in its entirety by both. The two sides began talks aimed at resolving Kashmir and other disputes in 2004.
India put on hold the peace process soon after terror attacks in Mumbai in November last year, which India blamed on the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
–Agencies