Indian nuclear program was first in South Asia: Pakistani expert
December 7th, 2009 - 6:54 pm ICT by ANIIslamabad, Dec. 7 (ANI): India was the first country in the South Asia to have a nuclear program and it didn’t go nuclear in response to Chinese quest for atomic weapons but preceded it, a Pakistani expert on nuclear affairs has said.
Naeem Salik, author of ‘The Genesis of South Asian Nuclear Deterrence - Pakistan’s Perspective’, said that Indian scientist Homi Bhabha conceptualised the nuclear program for the country beginning in 1940s and later also developed it, much before Beijing’s entry into the field.
The Nation quoted Salik, as saying that India became the first country in Asia to carry out chain reaction.
He described how India got heavy water and reprocessing plants in 1960s. And by 1965, intelligence estimates concluded India could go nuclear in a few years, which it did by exploding its first test in 1974..The retired brigadier, who has been closely associated with Pakistan’ Strategic Plans Division, recalled that the Indian nuclear explosions in May 1998 at Pokhran forced Pakistan to test its own devices, leading to nuclearization of South Asia. (ANI)
- Prithviraj Chavan condoles passing away of Homi Nusserwanji Sethna - Sep 07, 2010
- Pak nukes won't fall into terrorists' hands, says expert - Dec 07, 2009
- President, Prime Minister condole passing away of Dr. Homi Sethna - Sep 07, 2010
- President, PM condole Homi Sethna's death (Second Lead) - Sep 07, 2010
- Sekhar Basu new BARC chief - Jun 18, 2012
- Nuclear scientist P.K. Iyengar dead (Lead) - Dec 21, 2011
- World media looks at Indian missile through China prism - Apr 20, 2012
- Atomic Energy Commission chief Kakodkar to retire Nov 30 - Oct 30, 2009
- India, Pakistan continue to amass nukes: SIPRI - Jun 07, 2011
- Indian nuclear scientist Homi Sethna dead (Lead) - Sep 06, 2010
- Homi J. Bhabha: the man who visualised India's nuclear capacity (Friday is Bhabha's birth centenary) - Oct 29, 2009
- Sethna a pillar of India's nuclear programme: PM (Lead) - Sep 07, 2010
- Manmohan Singh dedicates Tarapur reprocessing plant to nation - Jan 07, 2011
- India, Pakistan exchange list of nuke facilities - Jan 01, 2011
- If Pakistan has N-bomb, we will smash it: Morarji told US - Dec 22, 2010
Tags: 1940s, 1960s, atomic weapons, beijing, bhabha, brigadier, chain reaction, estimates, first test, genesis, heavy water, indian scientist, nuclear affairs, nuclear deterrence, nuclear explosions, nuclear program, pakistan, plants, South Asia, strategic plans