ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan answered India's nuclear
tests with five underground detonations of its own today and said
it was capping a long-range missile with nuclear warheads,
escalating the arms race between the rival nations.
``Today, we have settled the score with India,'' Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif said, chastising the international community
for failing to punish Pakistan's long-time rival India after it
carried out five nuclear tests two weeks ago.
``India is an expansionist power,'' he said in a nationwide
address. ``The world should have sanctioned India fully ... but
they didn't.''
Today's action was sure to bring economic sanctions by the
United States and other nations, which had urged Pakistan to
refrain from retaliating with tests of its own.
The news set off street celebrations in Islamabad, with joyful
Pakistanis shooting their guns into the air. In New Delhi, the
Indian capital, it sent parliament into an uproar, with opposition
lawmakers leaping from their seats to blame the government for
setting off a nuclear arms race on the subcontinent.
Pakistan had been under enormous pressure from across the
political spectrum to explode a nuclear device since the Indian
tests. Sharif said today that India had violently upset the
regional balance of power, so Pakistan matched India exactly by
setting off its own five tests.
Pakistan's security worries -- and its earlier warnings that
India was preparing to test a nuclear device -- had been ignored by
the world, he said.
``Today the flames of the nuclear fire are all over,'' Sharif
said. ``I am thankful to God that ... we have jumped into these
flames ... with courage.''
Sharif said Pakistan had been tremendously patient with India,
and could have set off the underground tests 20 years ago if it had
chosen to do so.
He also thanked ally China -- another of India's rivals -- for its
help but did not specify what that entailed. China is believed to
have aided Pakistan's nuclear program.
The strongest test today registered a preliminary magnitude of
4.9, according to the U.S. National Earthquake Information Center.
In announcing the explosions, Pakistan said it was giving
nuclear muscle to the Ghauri missile, which it tested April 6. The
missile has a range of 900 miles, making it capable of striking
most parts of India.
``The long-range Ghauri missile is already being capped with the
nuclear warheads to give a befitting reply to any misadventure by
the enemy,'' an official statement said.
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said the report
``vindicated'' India's decision to test nuclear devices. Vajpayee
had argued that India needed a nuclear deterrent because Pakistan
had a secret weapons program.
In Washington, President Clinton expressed disappointment about
Pakistan's nuclear tests and concern over the prospect of
escalating tensions in South Asia. The United States will impose
tough economic sanctions against Pakistan, matching the punishment
levied on India, the White House said.
The underground tests were detonated in the Chagai region of
Pakistan's desolate southwestern Baluchistan province, barely 30
miles from the border with Iran and Afghanistan.
It wasn't immediately known what kind of devices Pakistan
tested, but the statement credited scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the
architect of Pakistan's bomb.
Pakistan and India have fought three wars since 1947 and came
dangerously close to a fourth, possibly nuclear, confrontation in
1990 over the disputed state of Kashmir.
India has said it planned no more tests, so an immediate
response in the form of more Indian explosions was unlikely. But
both India and Pakistan could work to improve their missiles'
ability to deliver nuclear weapons and perfect those weapons with
computer modeling.
Earlier today, Pakistan had accused India of planning to attack
its nuclear installations to prevent a test. India called the
accusation false and ``vicious propaganda.''
India's nuclear tests caught U.S. intelligence by surprise.
Since then India has been slapped with economic sanctions, most
recently this week when the World Bank indefinitely postponed a
decision on whether to extend more than $800 million in loans.
Pakistan is much more dependent on international assistance and
loans than India, and sanctions are bound to seriously hurt its
already struggling economy. Many economists fear this country of
140 million people may be forced to default on its $800 million
debt payment due at the end of June.
Pakistanis were both proud of their government's accomplishment
and wary of the hardship that sanctions may bring.
``I am very glad we have done it,'' said Raisuddin, 33, a
butcher from the southern city of Karachi. ``It was the right thing
to do. If we hadn't, then India would have invaded Pakistan.''
But Mohammed Hayat Khan, a cook, said Pakistan could not afford
the test.
``We are a poor country. Now inflation will go up,'' he said.
``We should have been more patient and it is the poor people who
will suffer now.''
Roughly 25 percent of Pakistan's $13 billion budget goes toward
defense spending. India and Pakistan are among the world's leading
purchasers of military equipment.
Pakistan has been living with U.S. sanctions since 1990 when
Washington cut all military and humanitarian aid because it
believed Islamabad had a nuclear bomb. At the time, Pakistan was
one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid.
