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Context

• 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 Installations and Facilities between India and Pakistan.

Details

• The Agreement, which was signed on 31 December 1988 and entered into force on 27 January 1991 provides, inter alia, that India and Pakistan inform each other of the nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the Agreement on the first of January of every calendar year.
• This is the 33rd consecutive exchange of such lists between the two countries, the first one having taken place on January 01, 1992.

What is the agreement between India and Pakistan?

• The agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities was signed on December 31, 1998, by the then Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto and Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi.
• The treaty came into force on January 27, 1991, and has two copies each in Urdu and Hindi.
• In 1986, the Indian army carried out a massive exercise ‘Brasstacks’, raising fears of an attack on nuclear facilities. Since then, both countries had been negotiating to reach an understanding towards the control of nuclear weapons.
• The MEA on Monday said this is the 33rd consecutive exchange of such lists between the two countries, the first one having taken place on January 1, 1992.
• The agreement mandates both countries to inform each other about any nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the agreement on the first of January of every calendar year, providing a confidence-building security measure environment.
• According to the agreement, the term ‘nuclear installation or facility’ includes nuclear power and research reactors, fuel fabrication, uranium enrichment, iso-topes separation, and reprocessing facilities as well as any other installations with fresh or irradiated nuclear fuel and materials in any form and establishments storing significant quantities of radioactive materials.

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