India, Pakistan exchange lists of nuclear installations

Islamabad: Nuclear-armed Pakistan and India exchanged lists of their nuclear installations on Friday, in an annual exercise on the first day of each year under a bilateral accord.

The agreement, signed by the neighbours on December 31, 1988, binds them to refrain from attacking nuclear sites.

The foreign ministry here said it handed over the list of Pakistan's nuclear installations and facilities to an officer of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Simultaneously, the Indian side handed over their list to an officer of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, it said.

Kayani's tough stand

The exchange coincided with a tough statement by Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, following reported ominous remarks by Indian army chief General Deepak Kapoor.

An Indian newspaper this week quoted Kapoor as saying at a closed-door seminar "a major leap in our approach to conduct operations has been the successful firming-up of the cold war strategy (to be able to go to war quickly)."

General Kayani, addressing senior army officers in Rawalpindi, said on Friday that peace and stability in South Asia and beyond was the logical and fundamental principle underlining the security calculus of Pakistan.

He said proponents of conventional application of military forces in a nuclear overhang were chartering an adventurous and dangerous path the consequences of which could be both unintended and uncontrollable.

The General, who did not name Kapoor, said Pakistan Army was fully alert and alive to the full spectrum of threat that "continues to exist in conventional and unconventional domains."

"Pakistan is not oblivious to the unprecedented acquisition of the sophisticated military hardware, synergised with an offensive military doctrine," he said, apparently alluding to India.

He said Pakistan army would contribute to strategic stability and strategic restraint as per the stated policy of government of Pakistan.

"But at the same time (it) will continue to maintain the necessary wherewithal to deter and if required, defeat any aggressive design, in any form or shape i.e a firmed up proactive strategy or a cold start doctrine," General Kayani said.

Pakistan Army, he said stands committed and prepared to respond to any existing, potential or emerging threat.

"An Army supported by 170 million people, with faith in Allah, is a formidable force to reckon with," he vowed.

After the Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008, relations between the two neighbours went off the track of improvement they had pursued since launching a peace dialogue in 2004.

India suspended the so-called composite dialogue because of the attacks it blamed on militants from Pakistan. There is no sign of a turnaround so far.