Pakistan Declares State of Emergency
Claims to Have Tested Five Nukes (One Confirmed)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan said it matched India with five nuclear test blasts of its own Thursday, then declared a state of emergency citing unspecified threats of ''external aggression.'' Both acts raised fears of a nuclear arms race -- or worse -- with neighbor and rival India.
Pakistan was mounting nuclear warheads on missiles capable of striking most targets within India, according to an official close to the nation's nuclear program.
In a midnight appeal by telephone, President Clinton had urged Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif not to carry out the tests. After the blasts, Clinton immediately pledged sanctions against Pakistan's already struggling economy, saying South Asia was poised to ''repeat the worst mistakes of the 20th century.''
In Pakistan, however, news of the underground nuclear explosions set off street celebrations across the nation, with jubilant men shooting guns in the air and burly, bearded revelers dancing in the streets.
''Today, we have settled the score with India,'' Sharif declared, announcing ''five tests of our own'' in a nationally broadcast speech.
He chastised the international community for failing to punish India. ''The world should have sanctioned India fully ... but they didn't,'' he said.
Hours later, President Rafiq Tarar declared a state of emergency, suspending Pakistan's constitution and legal system. The order gives extraordinary powers to the government and suspends civil rights.
The terse announcement, carried by the state-run news agency, did not identify who the aggressor might be, but Pakistan has accused India of threatening to attack its nuclear installations.
''Any such act would warrant a swift and massive retaliation with unforeseen consequences,'' the Foreign Ministry said in another, earlier statement.
India dismissed the allegation. ''Our prime minister has said again and again over the last few days that these reports are ridiculous,'' said K.C. Singh, spokesman for India's External Affairs Ministry.
In New Delhi, the Indian capital, news of the tests sent parliament into an uproar, with opposition lawmakers leaping from their seats to accuse the Hindu-nationalist government of setting off a nuclear arms race on the subcontinent.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee maintained Thursday's tests ''vindicated'' India's decision to test nuclear devices to counteract Pakistan's secret weapons program. He suggested that India may reconsider its self-imposed ban on further nuclear tests.
Pakistan did not offer any information about the type or strength of the devices Pakistan exploded near the border with Iran and Afghanistan, but said they released no radioactivity into the atmosphere.
The U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo., detected only one ''event'' with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9, geophysicist Bruce Presgrave said.
An ''event'' can encompass one or more simultaneous explosions, or one large explosion followed seconds later by a series of weaker blasts that can't be detected, Presgrave said.
The sensors -- designed to detect earthquakes, not nuclear explosions -- picked up only one of the five blasts in India -- the largest of which registered a magnitude of 5.4, Presgrave said.
International monitors estimated India's biggest blast at 10 kilotons, half the force of the bomb that the United States dropped on Hiroshima.
The United States had no choice but to impose sanctions against Pakistan, which include trying to block lending from international financial agencies, Clinton said. Washington said the sanctions were imminent.
As well as declaring a state of emergency, Pakistan's president announced a law to impose severe restrictions on foreign currency bank accounts. These accounts have been frozen to prevent a panic flight of capital.
Pakistan had been under enormous domestic pressure to explode a nuclear device since the Indian tests.
''Today the flames of the nuclear fire are all over,'' Sharif said. ''I am thankful to God that ... we have jumped into these flames ... with courage.''
Sharif said Pakistan had been tremendously patient with India, and could have set off the underground tests 20 years ago if it had chosen to do so.
At a news conference Thursday, Sharif pledged Pakistan would safeguard the nuclear technology used to develop its nuclear weapons' program.
He offered new talks with India ''to address any outstanding issue,'' including their rival claims over Kashmir. The two hostile neighbors have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state.
Pakistan now was putting nuclear warheads on its Ghauri missile, which has a range of 900 miles, the official close to Pakistan's nuclear program said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
The underground tests were detonated in the Chagai region of Pakistan's desolate southwestern Baluchistan province, 30 miles from the border.
Since its tests, India has been slapped with economic sanctions, most recently this week when the World Bank indefinitely postponed a decision on whether to extend more than $800 million in loans.
Pakistan is much more dependent on international assistance and loans than India, and sanctions are bound to seriously hurt its already struggling economy. Many economists fear this nation of 140 million people may now default on its $800 million debt payment due at the end of June.
In his televised speech, Sharif tried to prepare his people for troubled times.
''I give you this assurance: If the nation will only take one meal a day, then my children will take only one meal a day,'' he said. ''We will have sanctions. We will have difficulties, but if you have the strength there is no way we can fail.''
Pakistan has been living with U.S. sanctions since 1990 when Washington cut all military and humanitarian aid because it believed Islamabad had a nuclear bomb.
Associated Press, May 28, 1998 |
