India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations

New Delhi: Continuing an over three-decade practice, India and Pakistan on Thursday exchanged a list of their nuclear installations under a bilateral pact that prohibits the two sides from attacking each other's atomic facilities.

The exchange of the list came even as the ties between the two countries remain under deep freeze following four-day military hostilities last May.

The list exchange took place under the provisions of an agreement on the prohibition of attack against nuclear installations and facilities, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

It was done simultaneously through diplomatic channels in New Delhi and Islamabad.

"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," the MEA said.

The agreement was signed on December 31, 1988, and came into force on January 27 1991.

The pact mandates the two countries to inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the agreement on the first of January of every calendar year.

"This is the 35th consecutive exchange of such lists between the two countries, the first one having taken place on 1 January 1992," the MEA said in a brief statement.