India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations

New Delhi, Jan 1: India and Pakistan on Wednesday exchanged a list of their nuclear installations under a bilateral pact that prohibits the two sides from attacking each other's atomic facilities, in continuing an over-three-decade practice.

The exchange of the list took place under the provisions of an agreement on the prohibition of attacks against nuclear installations and facilities, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

It was done simultaneously through diplomatic channels in New Delhi and Islamabad.

"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 installation and facilities," the MEA said.

The exchange of the list came amid frosty ties between the two countries over the Kashmir issue as well as cross-border terrorism.

The agreement was signed on December 31, 1988 and entered into force on January 27, 1991.

The pact mandates the two countries to inform each other of the nuclear installations and facilities to be 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 January 1, 1992," the MEA said in a statement.

The ties between the two countries came under severe strain after India's warplanes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot in February 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

The relations further deteriorated after India, on August 5, 2019, announced the withdrawal of Jammu and Kashmir's special powers and the bifurcation of the state into Union territories.

India has been maintaining its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on the issue of terrorism and has remained firm in its position of not having any talks with Islamabad until it stops cross-border terrorism.

However, there were indications of some positive approach in the India-Pakistan relations as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar travelled to Islamabad in October to attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

It was the first such visit from India to Pakistan in nearly a decade that came amid the frosty ties between the two neighbours.