On Friday, India and Pakistan conducted the yearly practice of exchanging lists of their nuclear installations under a bilateral agreement that prohibits the two nations from attacking each other’s nuclear facilities.
According to a statement from the Foreign Office (FO) at Islamabad, the exchange of the lists was made in conformity with Article 2 of the Agreement on Prohibition of Attacks against Nuclear Installations and Facilities between India and Pakistan, which was signed on December 31, 1988. Under this agreement, both countries inform each other of their nuclear facilities on January 1 of ever year. This has been done every year since January 1, 1992, according to the FO.
“The list of nuclear installations and facilities in Pakistan was officially handed over to a representative of the Indian High Commission at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today, at 1100 hrs (PST). The Indian Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi handed over the list of Indian Nuclear installations and facilities to a representative of the Pakistan High Commission at 1130 hrs (IST)”, said the statement.
Tensions have been rife between the two nations since the Pulwama terror attack on February 14, 2019 and the subsequent surgical strikes on terrorist camps within Pakistan by the Indian Air Force. Following the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and the state’s split into the two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh on August 5, 2019, Pakistan downgraded diplomatic relations with India and expelled the Indian High Commissioner.