India, Pakistan exchange list of nuclear installations, continue decades old practice

Following a custom that dates back more than three decades, India and Pakistan exchanged a list of their nuclear stations on Monday in accordance with a bilateral agreement that forbids them from targeting one another's nuclear sites.According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the exchange of the list was conducted in accordance with the terms of an agreement that forbids attacks on nuclear sites and facilities.It was carried out concurrently in Islamabad and New Delhi via diplomatic channels."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 in a statement.Signed on December 31, 1988, the agreement became operative on January 27, 1991. It requires that on January 1st of each year, the two nations notify one another of any nuclear installations and facilities that fall under the agreement's purview.The list exchange occurred in the midst of tense relations between the two nations due to the Kashmir dispute and cross-border terrorism."This is the 33rd consecutive exchange of such lists between the two countries, the first one having taken place on January 1, 1992," the MEA statement added.(With agency inputs)