India and Pakistan Conduct Nuclear Tests

Under the leadership of the BJP government, India conducted three nuclear tests on 11 May 1998 and two more on 13 May. Pakistan countered on 28 May and 30 May with its own series of nuclear tests. As a result, a nuclear arms race has begun in South Asia that will affect U.S. nonproliferation policy, the fate of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the international nonproliferation regime as a whole.

This page provides information and resources on this issue as events develop.

• BASIC and Colleagues Publications and Press Releases

• Official Statements and Declarations

BASIC and Colleagues Publications and Press Releases

• South Asian Nuclear Tests Dominate UN First Committee Debate
  by Jim Wurst, Basic Reports #67, 27 November 1998

• Pakistan Follows India in Nuclear Test, Western Policy Fails
  BASIC Press Release, 28 May 1998

• Pakistan Tests Follow India Down Same Dangerous Path
  CESD Press Release, 28 May 1998

• Dicing with death
  Op-ed by Dan Plesch in The Guardian, 12 May 1998

• India's Tests Create a Global Opportunity
  Op-ed by Dan Plesch and Stephen Young, 14 May 1998

• India Tests U.S. Nuclear Policy
  BASIC Op-Ed, 11 May 1998

• US Non-proliferation Policy Failed as India Continues Tests
  BITS Press Advisory, 13 May 1998

• Indian Tests And US Sanctions Condemned 
  CESD Press Release, 13 May 1998

• Indian Nuclear Tests Challenge Nuclear Powers 
  BITS Press Advisory, 12 May 1998

• Sanctions under the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Action of 1994
  A summary of U.S. law requiring sanctions against countries conducting nuclear tests.

• Disarmament Groups Condemn Indian N-Tests
  Coalition to Reduce Nuclear Dangers Statement, 11 May 1998

Official Statements and Declarations

• The Lahore Declaration
  An agreement signed by the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan to take immediate steps to reduce the dangers of nuclear weapons.
  21 February 1999

• Official Indian Press Statement on Its Tests 11 May 1998

• Official Pakistani Press Statement 11 May 1998

• U.S. White House Press Briefing 11 May 1998

• Chinese FM Spokesman on South Asia Post-Nuclear Test Situation
  2 June 1998

• Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in Response to Indian Nuclear Tests 14 May 1998

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