New Delhi, April 10/Nationalturk- In a major embarrassment for India, US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks have disclosed that former Indian Prime Minister Late Indira Gandhi had offered to share nuclear technology with arch rival country, Pakistan.
“Indira Gandhi had written to the then Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1974 offering to share nuclear technology with the country,” Wikileaks revealed.
It said Indira offered nuclear technology to Pakistan only if proper conditions for trust were created.
“Indira had informed country’s parliament on July 22, 1974 that she told Bhutto that New Delhi would be ready to share relevant technology to Pakistan. I have explained in my letter to Pakistan PM the peaceful nature and the economic purposes of this experiment and have also stated that India is willing to share her nuclear technology with Pakistan in the same way she is willing to share it with other countries, provided proper conditions for understanding and trust are created. I once again repeat this assurance,” WikiLeaks quoted Indira as saying the parliament two months after conducting first nuclear test.
It, however, said the offer was rejected by then Pakistan PM.
The cables claimed that Indira Gandhi was evasive about nuclear weaponisation. “If our scientists have the basic know-how, without which they couldn’t have done this, then any government could have directed them to make a bomb if they had so desired,” it quoted her as saying.
India became nuclear in 1974, Pakistan in 1998
India carried first nuclear test on May 18, 1974 at Pokhran in Rajasthan state. On May 11, 1998 and May 13, 1998, Indian carried out five more underground nuclear tests with one of them being fission and rest fusion bombs
Pakistan conducted six underground tests at Ras Koh Hills and Kharan Desert in Balochistan province on May 28, 1998. Pakistan became the seventh nuclear power in the world to successfully develop and publicly test nuclear weapons.
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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk Pakistan News
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