Nuclear Pakistan - credit where it is due

[Baby Leone]

i guess we should also thank India whoz war mongering, hate and weapon race in our poor region persuaded Pakistan to achieve this milestone.

 

[LeGenD]

Our agencies were on top of the game and still are. One of my relatives in IB caught at least a dozen foreign pay rolled agents snooping around the nuke sites. They tried their best and the Jews even paid for the murder of a Pakistani nuclear engineering student studying at Imperial College London, he was stabbed to death.

But I know for a fact our spies were operating in Israel (and still do )and had Israeli nuke facilities targeted within Israel.

Such close-quarters spying efforts are expected but nothing significant in comparison to what Syria, Iraq and Iran experienced in terms of sabotaging efforts.

For example, Iran have a long history of busting many spies over the course of years. Consider this development in 2011: https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cia-spies-caught-fear-execution-middle-east/story?id=14994428

- wasn't enough to stop NSA-CIA-MOSSAD nexus from ruining the centrifuges of heavily guarded and isolated Natanz facility in 2014: https://www.wired.com/2014/11/countdown-to-zero-day-stuxnet/

We should be humble in our judgement and thank Allah Almighty for making this possible - he creates 'wasilley'.

Based on records becoming public, CIA, MI-6 and GISS knew a great deal about nuclear-related developments in Pakistan, and one of the European colleagues of Dr. Qadeer Khan also spilled the beans some years back when Dr. Khan's nuclear proliferation efforts received spotlight. In fact, Ronald Reagan openly supported Pakistan's nuclear program, his hatred for India notwithstanding. Then in the 1980s, US and Pakistan became very close to thwart Soviet efforts to subjugate Afghanistan (i.e. Operation Cyclone), and it was during this period that Pakistan had developed the bomb but tests were carried out in 1998 in response to Indian.

China also deserve credit for helping Pakistan achieve its nuclear ambitions - lot of it.

The most impressive march towards becoming a nuclear power is that of DPRK. How it pulled it off in spite of being heavy sanctions and lack of access to European nuclear markets of the 1960s - 1970s - just wow.

 

[Areesh]

Excellent read


I would rather say if the enthusiastic, passionate & determined ZAB (raheema ullah alaih) did not make it a personal mission and goal, we won't see a nuke program other than a few civilian power production units.

 

[SIPRA]

But poor ZAB paid the price for his mission to empower his beloved Pakistan.

Yes. In spite of his glare weaknesses, ZAB was a great patriot and nationalist.

 

[newb3e]

Pakistan was able to develop nuclear weapons only due to Afghan jihad

kindly elaborate!

 

[war&peace]

Drawing parallels to the fate of the nuclear programs of Syria, Iraq and Iran, is not right, because Pakistani nuclear program was not subjected to sabotaging efforts of any kind. Syria, Iraq and Iran - suffered due to their close proximity to Israel and because these were active contributors to war-effort against Israel. To this day, Iran is.

That's not true mate...Israel tried, at least, twice to directly attack Pak nuke program using India but the plans were foiled through timely intel on both occasions thanks to Allah Almighty. Apart from countless spies and double agents caught by agencies working to sabotage it.

But poor ZAB paid the price for his mission to empower his beloved Pakistan.

Poor got security & peace of mind that the enemy being 8's larger in every aspect is unable to attack Pakistan. Furthermore, it gave them a prestige and respect among comity of nations.

 

[Zee-shaun]

ZAB is the only politician who derserves some credit and ofcourse the army. Ganju, Bibi and all the other crook leaders in between would long have compromised our nuclear capability. Too much credit is also given to AQ Khan who started from scratch with his HEU programme in 1976. Dr Munir and Dr Samar were close to developping the PU based bomb when ZAB appoached AQ Khan. Not the best choice considering the fact that our latest nuclear arsenal is using plutonium which has higher yield and comes in smaller size compared to HEU devices.

Pakistan was able to develop nuclear weapons only due to Afghan jihad

Not entirely true. If Dr Samar was not taken off the project, we could have built the bomb around 1979/80. France had abandoned the Chasnupp-1 in 1977 but at that time the Kanupp-1 had produced enough plutonium to build a few 15KT nukes. Pakistan was put on sanctions in 1979 and then came the Pressler Amandement and the Americans were made to turn a blind eye to our nuclear program. During that time AQ Khan received enough funds to complete the infrastructure (KRL Kahuta and other nuclear facilities) needed to test the HEU based nuke. Cold tests were succesfully run between 1983-1986.
Rumor has it that we actually did explode an underground nuclear device in China in 1986 in the presence of General Zia ul Haq. He is the only foreign leader to have attended a nuclear test in China.

It's propoganda to keep Bhutto alive

Please do some research before making ingnorant remarks. You know zilch about Bhutto's dedication to the bomb.

 

[B.K.N]

ZAB is the only politician who derserves some credit and ofcourse the army. Ganju, Bibi and all the other crook leaders in between would long have compromised our nuclear capability. Too much credit is also given to AQ Khan who started from scratch with his HEU programme in 1976. Dr Munir and Dr Samar were close to developping the PU based bomb when ZAB appoached AQ Khan. Not the best choice considering the fact that our latest nuclear arsenal is using plutonium which has higher yield and comes in smaller size compared to HEU devices.


Not entirely true. If Dr Samar was not taken off the project, we could have built the bomb around 1979/80. France had abandoned the Chasnupp-1 in 1977 but at that time the Kanupp-1 had produced enough plutonium to build a few 15KT nukes. Pakistan was put on sanctions in 1979 and then came the Pressler Amandement and the Americans were made to turn a blind eye to our nuclear program. During that time AQ Khan received enough funds to complete the infrastructure (KRL Kahuta and other nuclear facilities) needed to test the HEU based nuke. Cold tests were succesfully run between 1983-1986.
Rumor has it that we actually did explode an underground nuclear device in China in 1986 in the presence of General Zia ul Haq. He is the only foreign leader to have attended a nuclear test in China.


Please do some research before making ingnorant remarks. You know zilch about Bhutto's dedication to the bomb.

Due to Afghan war US did not tried to stop Pakistan nuclear program otherwise they would have sanctioned Pakistan
and developing nuclear weapons in 70s are lies spreaded by Benazir she used to say my father told me in jail that now Pakistan is a nuclear power
ppp jiyalas say Bhutto was hanged because he wanted to make Pakistan a nuclear power and Zia was a Cia agent

 

[Zee-shaun]

Due to Afghan war US did not tried to stop Pakistan nuclear program otherwise they would have sanctioned Pakistan
and developing nuclear weapons in 70s are lies spreaded by Benazir she used to say my father told me in jail that now Pakistan is a nuclear power
ppp jiyalas say Bhutto was hanged because he wanted to make Pakistan a nuclear power and Zia was a Cia agent

Again you know zilch about the history and commitment of ZAB and the Army to the nuclear program. Nuclear apartheid only came into existance when India tested the bomb in 1974 (Smiling Budda) and the NSG was formed. It took 3 years for Washington to force France to halt the Chasnupp-1 and another 2 years to fully abandon it. We had gathered enough know how and tools before the sanctions came in 1979. Most of the (off the shelves) imports were possible because of their dual (civil and military) use and no alarm bells were ringing till one of AQ Khan's ex colleagies spoiled the beans for us and the shipment of centrifuges from Switserland was intercepted.
CIA had no clue about the progress till 1979.

 

[B.K.N]

Again you know zilch about the history and commitment of ZAB and the Army to the nuclear program. Nuclear apartheid only came into existance when India tested the bomb in 1974 (Smiling Budda) and the NSG was formed. It took 3 years for Washington to force France to halt the Chasnupp-1 and another 2 years to fully abandon it. We had gathered enough know how and tools before the sanctions came in 1979. Most of the (off the shelves) imports were possible because of their dual (civil and military) use and no alarm bells were ringing till one of AQ Khan's ex colleagies spoiled the beans for us and the shipment of centrifuges from Switserland was intercepted.
CIA had no clue about the progress till 1979.

CIA had no clue about the progress till 1979 because there wasn't any considerable progress till 79
Bhutto was khusamdi politician nothing else

 

[Zee-shaun]

CIA had no clue about the progress till 1979 because there wasn't any considerable progress till 79
Bhutto was khusamdi politician nothing else

Allah aapka bhala kare bhai. I rest my case.

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

The single most important event in Pakistan’s history, aside from its founding.

Give credit to all involved, Z.A. Bhutto included.

It is because of Allah swt’s plan that we became a nuclear power. He hid it from our enemies, blinded them, and all the correct pieces fell in place at the correct time.

Several Muslim countries pursued nuclear programs, but only Pakistan’s became successful:

 

[ghazi52]

In the mid-1970s Pakistan embarked upon the uranium enrichment route to acquire a nuclear weapons capability. Pakistan conducted nuclear tests in May 1998, shortly after India's nuclear tests, declaring itself a nuclear weapon state. Pakistan currently possesses a growing nuclear arsenal, and remains outside both the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Capabilities

Hans Kristensen and Robert Norris characterize Pakistan as having, "the world's fastest-growing nuclear stockpile." According to the SIPRI 2015 Yearbook, Pakistan possesses between 100 and 120 nuclear weapons. However, the International Panel on Fissile Materials concluded in 2015 that Pakistan possesses fissile material sufficient for over 200 weapons. Islamabad has stockpiled approximately 3.1 ± .4 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU), and produces enough HEU for perhaps 10 to 15 warheads per year. Pakistan currently has a stockpile of about 190 kg of weapons-grade plutonium, with the ability to produce approximately 12 to 24 kg per year. In addition, the Chashma reprocessing plant is nearing completion, which the IPFM estimated in 2015 would expand Pakistan’s plutonium production capability by 50-100 kg per year. Pakistan has completed work on all four reactors at the Khushab facility, where the Khan Research Laboratories greatly increased its HEU production capacity by employing more efficient P-3 and P-4 gas centrifuges. Satellite imagery of the fourth and last reactor at Khushab from January 2015 verified the complete external construction, including the presence of steam, a signature of its operation.

History

Establishing a Nuclear Program: 1956 to 1974

Pakistan asserts the origin of its nuclear weapons program lies in its adversarial relationship with India; the two countries have engaged in several conflicts, centered mainly on the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan began working on a nuclear program in the late 1950s,and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) was established in 1956. President Z.A. Bhutto forcefully advocated the nuclear option and famously said in 1965 that "if India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own." After the December 1971 defeat in the conflict with India, Bhutto issued a directive instructing the country's nuclear establishment to build a nuclear device within three years. Although the PAEC had already created a taskforce to work on a nuclear weapon in March 1974, India’s first test of a nuclear bomb in May 1974 played a significant role in motivating Pakistan to build its own.

A.Q. Khan's Contribution: 1975 to 1998

The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, headed by Munir Ahmad Khan, focused on the plutonium route to nuclear weapons development using material from the safeguarded Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP), but its progress was inefficient due to the constraints imposed by the nuclear export controls applied in the wake of India's nuclear test. Around 1975 A.Q. Khan, a metallurgist working at a subsidiary of the URENCO enrichment corporation in the Netherlands, returned to Pakistan to help his country develop a uranium enrichment program. Having brought centrifuge designs and business contacts back with him to Pakistan, Khan used various tactics, such as buying individual components rather than complete units, to evade export controls and acquire the necessary equipment. By the early 1980s, Pakistan had a clandestine uranium enrichment facility, and A.Q. Khan would later assert that the country had acquired the capability to assemble a first-generation nuclear device as early as 1984.

Pakistan also received assistance from states, especially China. Beginning in the late 1970s Beijing provided Islamabad with various levels of nuclear and missile-related assistance, including centrifuge equipment, warhead designs, HEU, components of various missile systems, and technical expertise. Eventually, from the 1980s onwards, the Khan network diversified its activities and illicitly transferred nuclear technology and expertise to Iran, North Korea, and Libya. The Khan network was officially dismantled in 2004, although questions still remain concerning the extent of the Pakistani political and military establishment's involvement in the network's activities.

Pakistan as a Declared Nuclear Power: 1998 to the Present

On 11 and 13 May 1998, India conducted a total of five nuclear explosions, which Pakistan felt pressured to respond to in kind. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided to test, and Pakistan detonated five explosions on 28 May and a sixth on 30 May 1998. In a post-test announcement Sharif stressed that the test was a necessary response to India, and that Pakistan's nuclear weapons were only "in the interest of national self-defense… to deter aggression, whether nuclear or conventional."

With these tests Pakistan abandoned its nuclear ambiguity, stating that it would maintain a "credible minimum deterrence" against India. In 1998, Pakistan commissioned its first plutonium production reactor at Khushab, which is capable of producing approximately 11 kg of weapons-grade plutonium annually. Through analysis of the cooling system of the heavy water reactors at Khushab, Tamara Patton, of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, estimated the thermal capacity and thus the plutonium production capacity of Khushab-2 and Khushab-3 to be around 15 kg and 18 kg of plutonium, respectively, per year. Satellite imagery of the fourth plutonium production reactor at Khushab appeared complete and operational as of January 2015. Patton estimates that "if Khushab-4 has at least an equivalent thermal capacity as Khushab-3, the entire complex could be capable of producing 64 kg of plutonium per year or enough fissile material for anywhere from 8–21 new warheads per year depending on their design." Associated facilities and their associated security perimeters are also being expanded, including the plutonium separation facilities at New Labs, Pakistan Institute of Science and Technology, to reprocess spent fuel from the new reactors at Khushab.

 

[Fawadqasim1]

ZAB is the only politician who derserves some credit and ofcourse the army. Ganju, Bibi and all the other crook leaders in between would long have compromised our nuclear capability. Too much credit is also given to AQ Khan who started from scratch with his HEU programme in 1976. Dr Munir and Dr Samar were close to developping the PU based bomb when ZAB appoached AQ Khan. Not the best choice considering the fact that our latest nuclear arsenal is using plutonium which has higher yield and comes in smaller size compared to HEU devices.


Not entirely true. If Dr Samar was not taken off the project, we could have built the bomb around 1979/80. France had abandoned the Chasnupp-1 in 1977 but at that time the Kanupp-1 had produced enough plutonium to build a few 15KT nukes. Pakistan was put on sanctions in 1979 and then came the Pressler Amandement and the Americans were made to turn a blind eye to our nuclear program. During that time AQ Khan received enough funds to complete the infrastructure (KRL Kahuta and other nuclear facilities) needed to test the HEU based nuke. Cold tests were succesfully run between 1983-1986.
Rumor has it that we actually did explode an underground nuclear device in China in 1986 in the presence of General Zia ul Haq. He is the only foreign leader to have attended a nuclear test in China.


Please do some research before making ingnorant remarks. You know zilch about Bhutto's dedication to the bomb.

no sir (kanupp) was and is under iaea safeguards and it was and still is impossible to steal a few grams of plutonium. At that time pakistan was unable to build its own candu type reactor so much so that we were unable to produce heavy water in significant quantity so dr aq khans enrichment route was our only shot at that time.
There was another route that was to build a graphite moderated reactor but we were unable to build that too the high grade graphite and boron rods needed were the main impediments at that time for us.

pardon my clumsy posts i am posting via mobile

And sir most of the plutonium produced by Power generation reactors are rich in pu 240 which ends up in a fizzle hence is called dirty plutonium(reactor grade plutonium)i.e. it pre detonates a production reactor or a military reactor uses short burns low thermal outputs among others to mitigate this problem I can assure you sir that Khan rout was the only route at that time. if that wasn't the case india would have hundreds of weapons by now may be more than 1000
They have many many kanupps running
if you remember they tried to use dirty plutonium(reactor grade plutonium)in one of their tests in pokhran ii
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_weapons_tests_of_India
P.s the opposite of reactor grade plutonium is bomb grade plutonium.

 

[Fawadqasim1]

Fathers of Pakistan nuclear program
Political zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Economic Ghulam Ishaq Khan
Technical Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan (uranium enrichment)
Technical Munir Ahmad Khan and his various teams and groups.