India, Pakistan exchange list of nuke sites

New Delhi: The subcontinent's new year tradition played out again as India and Pakistan exchanged lists of nuclear installations on Friday.

The list exchange was done under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities, inked on December 31, 1988.

The deal came into effect on January 27, 1991, and the first exchange took place on January 1, 1992.

A press release of the Indian ministry of external affairs said that the exchange was made "through diplomatic channels simultaneously at New Delhi and Islamabad".

In Islamabad, Pakistan's list was handed over to a diplomat of the Indian High Commission at the foreign Office at 11 a.m.

A little later, India also handed over its list to a Pakistani diplomat at its headquarters in South Block at 11.30 a.m.

This was the nineteenth consecutive list exchange between the two countries.

Both countries are de-facto nuclear-weapon powers. India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, followed by five more in 1998. Pakistan conducted tit-for-tat six nuclear tests in 1998.

Neither India nor Pakistan is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

India considers the NPT discriminatory, while Pakistan has indicated that it won't join the international agreement till its neighbour does so.

Similarly, India and Pakistan have also not signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.