NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan on Thursday exchanged, through diplomatic channels, the list of nuclear installations and facilities covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities, the ministry of external affairs said.The exchange took place simultaneously in New Delhi and Islamabad, in keeping with the provisions of the bilateral agreement that governs the protection of nuclear infrastructure in both countries.
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According to the MEA, the agreement requires India and Pakistan to inform each other of the nuclear installations and facilities covered under the pact on 1 January of every calendar year. Thursday’s exchange marked the 35th consecutive exchange of such lists, with the first taking place on 1 January 1992.The annual exchange has continued uninterrupted for over three decades, even during periods of heightened political and military tension between the two neighbours.
What the agreement says
The Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities was signed on 31 December 1988 and entered into force on 27 January 1991, following the exchange of instruments of ratification by both sides.Under the agreement, both India and Pakistan commit themselves to refrain from undertaking, encouraging or participating in any action aimed at causing destruction of, or damage to, nuclear installations or facilities in the other country.The scope of the agreement is broad. Nuclear installations and facilities covered under the pact include nuclear power plants, research reactors, fuel fabrication units, uranium enrichment facilities, isotope separation plants, reprocessing units and sites storing significant quantities of radioactive material, whether fresh or irradiated.The agreement also specifies that both countries must exchange information on the locations of these facilities, typically in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates, once every year.
Why the annual exchange matters
The annual exchange of lists is designed to reduce the risk of accidental, miscalculated or deliberate attacks on sensitive nuclear infrastructure during periods of conflict or crisis.By formally identifying protected sites, the agreement seeks to prevent scenarios in which conventional military operations could inadvertently escalate into a nuclear crisis. An attack on a nuclear installation, even with conventional weapons, could have catastrophic humanitarian, environmental and strategic consequences.Security analysts view the exchange as a confidence-building measure that helps maintain a minimum level of predictability between two nuclear-armed neighbours with a long history of conflict.Notably, the exchange has continued even during times of strained relations, including after major crises such as the Kargil conflict, the 2001–02 military standoff, the 2016 Uri attack and the 2019 Pulwama attack and Balakot air strikes.
Historical context
When the agreement was negotiated in the late 1980s, both India and Pakistan were moving steadily towards overt nuclear capability, though neither had yet conducted nuclear tests. Concerns over pre-emptive strikes on nuclear facilities, particularly in the context of regional instability, were central to the discussions.The agreement was one of the earliest formal nuclear confidence-building measures between the two countries and predated their 1998 nuclear tests, after which both openly declared themselves nuclear weapon states.Since entering into force in 1991, the agreement has remained intact despite the absence of progress on broader nuclear arms control or risk-reduction mechanisms in South Asia.
Limits of the agreement
While the pact prohibits attacks on nuclear installations and facilities, it does not restrict the development, deployment or use of nuclear weapons themselves. Nor does it include verification mechanisms beyond the annual exchange of lists.The agreement also does not cover missile bases, command and control centres or other strategic military assets linked to nuclear weapons.Even so, diplomats and experts argue that the continued observance of the agreement reflects a shared recognition of the dangers posed by attacks on nuclear infrastructure.More than three decades after it came into force, the agreement remains one of the few enduring pillars of nuclear risk reduction between India and Pakistan.In an environment marked by limited dialogue and recurring tensions, the uninterrupted annual exchange of nuclear installation lists serves as a reminder that both sides continue to acknowledge the need to prevent catastrophic escalation.For now, the routine exchange remains a rare example of sustained institutional cooperation between the two countries in the nuclear domain.
