India, Pakistan share nuclear facilities list under annual pact

INDIA and Pakistan exchanged lists of their nuclear installations on Wednesday under a bilateral agreement that prohibits attacks on each other's atomic facilities.

This annual exchange has been taking place for over three decades, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

The lists were exchanged through diplomatic channels in New Delhi and Islamabad simultaneously. "India and Pakistan today exchanged, through diplomatic channels, simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad, the list of nuclear installations and facilities covered under the agreement on the prohibition of attack against nuclear installations and facilities," the MEA said.

This practice is part of the agreement signed on 31 December 1988, which came into effect on 27 January 1991. The pact requires both sides to share the list of nuclear facilities covered under the agreement on the first day of January every year. "This is the 34th consecutive exchange of such lists between the two countries, the first one having taken place on 1 January 1992," the MEA added.

The exchange took place amid ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan over issues such as Kashmir and cross-border terrorism. Relations between the two countries worsened after India’s airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot in February 2019, following the Pulwama terror attack.

Ties further deteriorated after India revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status on 5 August 2019 and reorganised the state into two Union territories. India has consistently stated that talks with Pakistan will not resume until Islamabad takes action against cross-border terrorism.

However, there have been some signs of dialogue. In October, external affairs minister S Jaishankar visited Islamabad for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

This was the first such visit by an Indian official to Pakistan in nearly a decade, despite the strained relationship between the two nations.

(With inputs from PTI)