Story of AQ Khan 04 of 07

1998 tests

The competition between KRL and PAEC became highly intensified when India tested its nuclear bombs, codename Pokhran-II, in 1998 in Pokhran region. These nuclear tests conducted by India caused great alarm and internal tension in Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif, prime minister at that time, came under intense media and public pressure to conduct its own nuclear tests. After the Indian nuclear weapons tests, Abdul Qadeer Khan repeatedly met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, trying for permission to test Pakistan's nuclear weapons in Chagai. He proposed that the tests could by carried out in the underground tunnels in Kahuta. Despite his efforts, Sharif instead chose PAEC, under Dr. Ishfaq Ahmad, due to their experience of ingeniously carrying out the tests in the past.

In meantime, Sharif sought to mitigate the intense rivalry between PAEC and KRL by asking Khan to provide its enriched uranium to PAEC. Nawaz Sharif also urged both KRL and PAEC to work together in the nation's best interest. It was the KRL's HEU that ultimately led to the successful detonation of Pakistan's first nuclear device on 28 May 1998. Two days later, on 30 May, a small team of scientists belonging to PAEC, under the leadership of Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, tested a Plutonium-based nuclear device. According to Pakistan defense analyst and retired engineer officer Lieutenant-General Talat Masood, the weapon-grade device was much more powerful than the uranium device. The theoretical test yield of the device was reported to 12-20 Kt. But recently in an interview with Dr. Shahid Masood of A.R.Y. Television Network, Abdul Qadeer Khan said that the even the second nuclear test was also based on Uranium-fissile fuel, though he did not provide any evidence to his claim. The tests were greeted with jubilation; in Pakistan, Abdul Qadeer Khan was feted as a national hero. The United States immediately imposed sanctions on both India and Pakistan and publicly blamed China for assisting Pakistan.