Islamabad: The 28th Youm-e-Takbir is being celebrated with national enthusiasm today in memory of the nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan on May 28, 1998.
On that day, Pakistan became the world’s seventh nuclear
power and the first Islamic country to have nuclear weapons in its arsenal. A
team of Pakistani scientists led by Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of
Pakistan’s nuclear program, and Dr. Samar Mubarak Mand conducted nuclear tests in
the Ras Koh mountains of Chagai district of Balochistan.
These tests expressed the nation’s determination to protect
Pakistan’s territorial integrity, freedom and sovereignty. This historic
statement by former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto is fundamental to this
milestone, that he would endure hunger but make the country a nuclear power.
Despite external pressure, the then Prime Minister of
Pakistan, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, took the bold decision to conduct Pakistani
nuclear tests in response to India’s nuclear tests and thus restored the
balance of strategic power in the region.
The President and Prime Minister, while congratulating the
nation, described the nuclear explosions of May 28, 1998, as a symbol of
national pride, defense, and peace.
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