India and Pakistan on the first day of 2018 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 between the two nations, as mentioned in a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The Agreement, which was signed on December 31, 1988 and entered into force on January 27, 1991 provides, inter alia, that the two countries inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the Agreement on the first of January of every calendar year.
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This is the 27th consecutive exchange of such list between the two countries, the first one having taken place on January 1, 1992. The exchange comes in the backdrop of the furore over the recent meeting of former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, is on a death row in Pakistan over charges of terrorism and espionage for India’s intelligence agency – Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), with his family members.
While India has accused Pakistan of disrespecting the cultural and religious sensibilties of the wife and the mother of Jadhav, Islamabad holds that the procedure followed for the meeting was in consideration of security measures.
(With ANI Inputs)